Amsterdam - Dutch health authorities have recorded a first case of a swine flu-infected patient resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The Royal Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM said the patient had been hospitalized, but declined to identify the hospital or provide further details about the patient's condition.
The RIVM, located in De Bilt in the central Netherlands, also said the patient's relatives were currently being tested for swine flu.
The World Health Organization previously recorded a total of 39 cases of Tamiflu-resistant patients.
Resistance against a particular drug develops when the virus itself has undergone a mutation, which often happens spontaneously.
If a patient, as a result of the viral resistance, no longer responds to Tamiflu, there are no other drugs available to treat his illness.
Earlier this week, some 34 million vaccines for swine flu arrived in the Netherlands.
