Osaka sent paper on Tamiflu-resistant virus to journal before announcement

+

OSAKA, July 5 Kyodo -
The Osaka prefectural government sent a research paper to a U.S. medical
journal on the first case in Japan of a genetic mutation of the new strain of
influenza A virus resistant to Tamiflu about a week before making the finding
public, local officials said Saturday.
''It's not that we intentionally placed priority on the manuscript and delayed
the announcement,'' said Tatsuya Oshita, an official of the prefectural
government's health and medical care department. ''As it turned out, we dealt
with the matter in a way that could be criticized and we are sorry.''
The Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu virus was found in a woman in her 40s in Osaka
Prefecture on June 18 -- two weeks before the announcement -- through virus
sample analysis at the Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, according
to the officials.
Subsequently, a staff member of the institute submitted a manuscript on the
analysis result to the U.S. journal on June 24, but it had not been used in the
magazine as of Sunday, the officials said.
The prefectural government reported the case to the Health, Labor and Welfare
Ministry on Wednesday and held a press conference the next day to make it
public based on advice from the ministry, they said.
The local government had said its report to the ministry was delayed as it took
time to study the methods for examining abnormalities in viruses themselves in
order to substantiate the finding.
The woman had been given Tamiflu since May 18 as a preventive measure after she
was found to have had close contact with another confirmed infected patient the
previous day, according to the ministry and other sources.
She developed a slight fever on May 24, was confirmed infected with the new
influenza May 28 and had recovered after being treated with Relenza, another
antiflu drug, they said.
==Kyodo