Virus mutation spreads as flu deaths soar
Posted on » Saturday, November 28, 2009
PARIS: Swine flu virus mutations are spreading in Europe, French health officials said yesterday as World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a leap in deaths from the disease by more than 1,000 in a week.
Two patients infected by a mutation recently detected in Norway died in France, Health Surveillance Institute said.
"The mutation could increase the ability of the virus to affect the respiratory tracts and, in particular, the lung tissue." For one of the patients, this mutation was accompanied by another known to confer resistance to oseltamivir - the main drug being used, under the brand name Tamiflu, it said.
The case was the first drug-resistant strain found in France among the 1,200 strains analysed, it said, adding "the effectiveness of vaccines available is not being questioned." Both patients were not related and had been in hospital in two cities.
The WHO said the death toll had reached at least 7,826 worldwide since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April.
The numbers reported to the UN health agency showed the biggest rise in the Americas, where 5,360 deaths have been recorded compared to 4,806 a week ago.
Europe also posted a substantial increase percentage-wise with 650 fatalities reported, representing a surge of 300 deaths or 85pc from data posted a week ago.
"The question is whether the mutations again suggest that there is a fundamental change going on in viruses out there - whether there's a turn for the worse in terms of severity," WHO's special adviser on pandemic influenza Keiji Fukuda said.
"The answer right now is that we are not sure."
gulf-daily-news.com |
