Drug-Resistent Bird Flu

Medical investigators have discovered a strain of avian flu that is resistent to the most popular flu anti-viral Tamiflu:

"A strain of H5N1 bird flu virus found in an infected Vietnamese girl is resistant to the drug being stockpiled by more than a dozen countries, including the United States, as a defense against a possible global pandemic, researchers reported yesterday.

The new finding, while not unexpected, raises the possibility that oseltamivir, sold as Tamiflu, might be less useful than anticipated if resistant strains of the H5N1 avian flu virus become more prevalent and the virus gains the ability to pass easily from person to person -- a trait it does not possess now."

Fortunately the little girl, along with her brother who was infected with a similar strain, recovered fully. It appears that this particular resistent strain developed in the girl, and there is no evidence that the strain is transmissable between people. Nor does it appear to be anymore lethal than more common flu strains. However, this does highlight a frightening characteristic of this flu, and viruses in general, which is the ability to mutate considerably in the body of a single host. As I highlighted in an earlier post, most medical researchers believe it is only a matter of time before a version of avian flu that is easily transmitted between people appears. The concern is that if it can mutate to that extent, that it can be easily transmitted between birds and people, then between people and other people, then it could also mutate into a form that the body has little natural resistence to and could thus prove more lethal. That it could also mutate into a strain that is resistent to the anti-viral drug currently being stockpiled to resist just such an outbreak, is a troubling new threat.