Fatal H1N1 Tamiflu Resistance in Canada
New Brunswick public health officials are reporting the province's
first death related to a drug-resistant H1N1 strain.
A 27-year-old Quispamsis man died in hospital on Monday after
nearly a month in intensive care, public health officials said.
The man was the eighth person in New Brunswick to die with the
H1N1 virus.
According to Dr. Paul Van Buynder, the province's deputy chief
medical health officer, the H1N1 strain the man contracted was
resistant to drugs such as Tamiflu that are used to fight the
virus.
Most flu cases usually appear in the winter, when the virus is
stable and host resistance is compromised by cold weather and
other respiratory diseases. Thus, it is likely that an influenza
virus will emerge, but seasonal flu is virtually absent throughout
the northern hemisphere.
Although swine H1N1 in Canada, U.S. and across the northern hemisphere
is declining, there are still high levels of pandemic H1N1 in
circulation. In the U.S. the week 50 levels of swine H1N1 were
still three fold higher than seasonal flu last year, and 100 fold
higher than seasonal flu this year. In Ukraine, deaths have spiked
higher raising concerns of multiple pockets of pandemic H1N1 that
can fill the seasonal flu void in the upcoming months.
Reference Sources 106, 242
December 30, 2009
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