Bloomberg

“Tamiflu-resistant swine flu was found in a teenager who hadn’t taken Roche Holding AG’s best-selling antiviral medicine, Hong Kong’s health department said.

“The city’s Public Health Laboratory Services Branch identified the drug-evading variant during routine surveillance of flu specimens, the department said in a statement today.

“This marks the first known case of Tamiflu resistance in a swine flu patient not treated with the drug, which has been stockpiled by governments worldwide to fight pandemic influenza. The specimen was collected from a 16-year-old girl who flew from San Francisco and was intercepted by officials at Hong Kong International Airport on June 11, according to the statement. (Emphasis added)

“Picking it up in a patient who was not treated is a cause for concern,” Malik Peiris, professor of microbiology at Hong Kong University, said in an interview. “One case doesn’t change the world, but if we are seeing more and more cases in patients who are not treated, then I think it would be more serious.”(Emphasis added)

Source: Bloomberg News, July 3, 2003