Tamiflu-resistant swine flu case found in Canada

[July 23, 2009]  TORONTO (AP) -- Canada has recorded its first case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus in a man who had been given the drug to prevent infection.

The 60-year-old Quebec man was given the flu antiviral after his son fell ill with the pandemic virus.

Jirina Vlk, spokeswoman for the Public Health Agency of Canada, says the strain does not appear to have spread beyond the reported individual case.

Use of Tamiflu to prevent infection has occasionally given rise to resistant viruses.

The Tamiflu-resistant case is the fifth reported globally since the virus was detected in April. Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan earlier reported one case each. Japan reported its second such case Tuesday, according to GenBank, a public-access library for virus sequences managed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

[Associated Press]

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