A scientific laboratory experiment has shown that there is a mutant H7N9 avian influenza virus that is extremely resistant to treatment with Tamiflu and particularly transmissible and virulent.
Virologist Nicole Bouvier and her colleagues analyzed a H7N9 virus mutated isolated from a patient in China to study its drug resistance and its ability to replicate, transmit and maintain virulence, by performing various tests on human cells, mice and guinea pigs.
The results of their experiment showed that “a mutated H7N9 avian influenza virus having the particularity of being” highly resistant “to treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) remained as transmissible and virulent as non-resistant counterparts. “
This new strain, a threat to human health
“So far there is no indication that human-to-human transmission of the virus is possible, but animal-to-human and human-to-human transmission routes are the subject of intensive investigation “, according to the WHO.
“But the emergence of a mutated strain easily transmissible between humans would constitute a major threat to human health against which antiviral treatments such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu), would be the first bulwarks before the possible development of vaccines” explains the researchers. .
Unusual features
According to the British scientific journal Nature, which publishes the study by American researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York), “these characteristics are described as ‘unusual’ because” when seasonal influenza viruses become resistant, this is usually done to the detriment of the virus’s ability to proliferate and transmit “.
“We know that antiviral treatments can lead to resistance in the case of influenza and this study highlights the need for careful use of these antivirals in H7N9 infections, ”concludes the journal Nature.
According to the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO), avian influenza viruses of the H7N9 type have officially reached 139 people in China since February 2013, 45 of whom have died.
