S.Korea reports first Tamiflu-resistant death

AFP Global Edition | 2009-12-17 09:10:41

<div><p>A South Korean infant infected with swine flu has died of pneumonia and respiratory failure after showing no response to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, officials said Thursday.</p><p>The one-year-old girl died on December 1 in hospital, the health ministry said, adding that health officials discovered a strain of the (A)H1N1 virus resistant to Tamiflu in her body.</p><p>"It marked the first such fatality at home, but we need consultations with the (World Health Organisation) to see if it was the world's first such case," Chung Chan-Woo, an official at the ministry's swine flu centre, told AFP.</p><p>The girl was hospitalised on November 14 for high fever and coughs but her condition continued to deteriorate despite double doses of Tamiflu, he said.</p><p>The girl was too young to be given another anti-viral drug, Relenza, which is approved for treatment only in children who are seven years and older, he said.</p><p>South Korea has reported two other cases of Tamiflu-resistant patients. Its death toll from swine flu has reached 118.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65587038&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>


Copyright 2009  <a href="http://www.afp.com/english/links/?pid=copyright">AFP Global Edition</a></div></div>

loading