H7N9 Mutation Resists Drugs

Revelation 6:7,8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.

A mutation discovered in a new strain of bird flu has rendered the virus resistant to treatment drugs without limiting its ability to spread.

Most seasonal flu strains often become less transmissible when developing drug resistance, but scientists discovered that the H7N9 bird flu does not lose any of its spreading potential even with drug resistance.

Researchers said they do not believe this will make H7N9 any more likely to develop into a pandemic, but do recommend that doctors should be careful in their use of anti-viral medicines and consider using other drugs instead of Tamiflu to treat H7N9 cases.

The H7N9 bird flu has infected at least 139 people so far in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and has killed 45 people.

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