Neuraminidase inhibitor resistance of the isolated influenza virus: Analysis of 54-month data from Thailand

Dear Sir,

At present, acute febrile illness due to influenza virus infection has become a public concern. The infection can be seen worldwide and is the focus of disease surveillance and control by the World Health Organization (WHO). An interesting issue of the influenza virus study, at present, is the emergence of the drug resistance strain. The drug-resistant influenza can be problematic and difficult to treat. ^[1] The monitoring of drug resistance is an interesting aspect of laboratory study. However, due to its high cost, it is not routinely done in the developing countries. Here, the authors have tried to analyze the primary data in the official report from the Thai National Influenza Center, Thailand. ^[2] The data on the neuraminidase inhibitor resistance test of the isolated influenza virus within the period between January 2009 and May 2013 were collected. Interestingly, within the studied period of 53 months, there were 1,600 studied isolations and 0.68% were neuraminidase inhibitor resistant. Classified by subgroup, the resistance can be seen in 0%, 0%, 1.36%, and 99.55% of influenza B, influenza A virus subtype H3N2 (H3N2), the new emerging influenza A (H1N1), and the classical H1N1, respectively. It can be seen that the resistance was in only the H1N1s. In this report, the rate is higher than the one observed at a single center in Thailand (about 0.31%). ^[3] This shows the fact that the presently used neuraminidase inhibitor will be little useful for fighting H1N1 influenza in Thailand.

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

DOI: 10.4103/1755-6783.157636