Drug-Resistant Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, South Korea1

DOI: 10.3201/eid1704.101467
Suggested citation for this article: Shin SY, Kang C, Gwack J, Kim JH, Kim HS, Kang YA, et al. Drug-resistant pandemic (H1N1) 2009, South Korea. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Apr; [Epub ahead of print]


Drug-Resistant Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, South Korea1
Soo Youn Shin, Chun Kang, Jin Gwack, Joon Hyung Kim, Hyun Su Kim, Young A. Kang, Ha Gyung Lee, Jin Seok Kim, Jong-Koo Lee, and Sung-Han Kim
Author affiliations: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul, South Korea (S.Y. Shin, C. Kang, J. Gwack, J.H. Kim, H.S. Kim, Y.A. Kang, H.G. Lee, J.S. Kim, J.-K. Lee); and University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul (S.-H. Kim)

1Presented in part at the 50th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; 2010 Sep 12–15; Boston, Massachusetts, USA (late-breaker posters session, abstract V-448c).

Eleven patients with drug-resistant pandemic (H1N1) 2009 were identified in South Korea during May 2009–January 2010. Virus isolates from all patients had the H275Y mutation in the neuraminidase gene. One isolate had the I117M mutation. Of the 11 patients, 6 were <59 months of age, and 5 had underlying immunosuppressive conditions. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked clinicians to report all patients with suspected cases of drug-resistant pandemic (H1N1) 2009 when these patients showed treatment failure for oseltamivir or had unusually prolonged viral shedding (defined as >5 days after the onset of symptoms) (1). We report nationwide surveillance data on the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients infected with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in South Korea.

The Study

From the first reported infected patient in May 2009 through January 2010, a total of 740,835 patients in South Korea were reported as having pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infection.

full-text:
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/17/4/pdfs/10-1467.pdf?source=govdelivery