Hong Kong reports Tamiflu-resistant swine flu case

Hong Kong health authorities have reported the first local case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu in the southern Chinese territory.

The Centre for Health Protection (CPH) said Friday that the case involved a 40-year-old female resident of a home for the disabled.

CPH controller Dr Thomas Tsang said the woman started taking Tamiflu on July 15 after 21 people at the home fell ill and was later confirmed to be infected with swine flu.

Laboratory tests available Friday showed the virus sample from the woman, who has since recovered, was resistant to Tamiflu, the main anti-viral flu drug.

Describing the case as an isolated one, Dr Tsang said there was no sign of Tamiflu-resistant flu spreading at the home.

Early last month Hong Kong announced it had detected a strain of the H1N1 virus that was resistant to Tamiflu involving a 16-year-old girl who arrived from San Francisco. She was later discharged from hospital.

The health department said Friday there had been a total of 6,640 cases of swine flu in the city.

When Hong Kong discovered its first swine flu case in early May, health authorities quarantined about 300 guests and staff at a hotel where the carrier, a Mexican national, had briefly stayed.

In June, authorities ordered all primary schools in the city to be closed for two weeks after the first cluster of local swine flu cases was found.

(c) 2009 AFP