Biologists at Caltech have pinpointed molecular changes that helped allow the global spread of resistance to the antiviral medication Tamiflu (oseltamivir) among strains of the seasonal H1N1 flu virus. Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs directly target viruses, unlike vaccines.
The researchers identified several mutations that have allowed the virus to not only resist Tamiflu, but to replicate and spread across the globe. One of the mutations, known as H274Y, has not become widespread in either the avian H5N1 influenza or the recent swine-origin influenza pandemic, although it has cropped up in isolated cases.
Full story at Futurity.