myDNA.com - News: Bird flu drug: Useless?: "Bird flu drug: Useless?"
"There are now resistant H5N1 strains appearing, and we can't totally rely on one drug (Tamiflu)," said William Chui, honorary associate professor with the department of pharmacology at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong. The Tamiflu-resistant strain of H5N1 has been documented in Vietnam, and Chui also reported that a general viral resistance to Tamiflu is growing in Japan, where the medication is often prescribed to fight the common strain of influenza.
CORDIS: Bird flu pandemic fear grows as virus becomes resistant to TamifluA small Japanese independent study published last August already suggested that influenza viruses were becoming resistant to Tamiflu, and that the resistance may be more common than thought. In this study, 18 per cent of the child patients had Tamiflu-resistant influenza, said lead researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of virology, microbiology, and immunology at the University of Tokyo.