January 22, 2007

Egypt's bird flu strain resistant to Tamiflu

The Egyptian Health Ministry Saturday confirmed that last month's two human infections of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus were resistant to Tamiflu.

Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin was quoted by news agency MENA as saying that virus strains taken from persons who had died of bird flu last month have shown resistance against Tamiflu.   

The confirmation came two days after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the cases in Egypt had a mutated form of the virus, which showed moderate resistance to Tamiflu.

Tamiflu, however, had not completely lost its effectiveness, he said, adding that other new medicines against bird flu are available in Egypt.

Shahin said there is no proof so far that the H5N1 strain of the virus is transmissible among humans.

Late in December of 2006, Egypt detected three human bird flu cases, all of whom came from a family in the Egyptian Delta governorate of Gharbiya, some 90 km north of Cairo. The three infected persons died of the virus within days.

Bird flu in poultry was reported in 20 of the country's 26 governorates last year.

11 people have died of bird flu in Egypt since the first human bird flu case on March 18 of 2006.