Five patients diagnosed with Tamiflu-resistant swine flu at a Welsh hospital could be the world’s first cases of person-to-person transmission of the strain.
Three of the five people on a unit for severe underlying health conditions at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, appear to have acquired the infection on the ward, the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) said yesterday.
The Government played down fears that the resistant strain could now become widespread after the Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed there had previously been “no documented episodes of person-to-person transmission”.
A British Department of Health spokeswoman said: “Examples of Tamiflu resistance are very rare, but when this does occur it has often been among these especially vulnerable patients. In other words, because their immune systems are compromised, it is more likely for resistant viruses to develop.”
On Thursday the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has reported 57 incidents of Tamiflu resistance worldwide, received four reports of possible person-to-person transmission in a US hospital.
An HPA spokesman said the possibility that the American viruses have been transmitted within the hospital was also being investigation.
The Welsh cases occurred in patients with haematological problems who had compromised immune systems because of their disorder or because of chemotherapy, the agency added.
The HPA said in a statement: “To date, a total of nine (swine flu) confirmed cases have been reported amongst patients on a hospital ward in Wales.
“Five of these cases are known to be resistant to oseltamivir, one is sensitive and for three resistance status is presently unknown.” The statement said the risk to the general healthy population was “low”.
It added: “There is no evidence that the oseltamivir-resistant virus is any more virulent than any other type of flu. The situation is being kept under review.
“Further follow-up of cases and their close contacts both on the ward and in the community is under way to ascertain if there is evidence of onward transmission.
“The virus remains sensitive to the other frontline drug, Relenza, which is being used as an alternative anti-viral and patients are responding well.”
PA