No more cases of drug-resistant flu found at hospital

After extensive testing, no more cases of drug-resistant H1N1 virus have been discovered at the Hospital, WRAL reported Tuesday.

Officials announced Nov. 20 that the Hospital had four cases of the virus, which is resistant to Tamiflu, a drug used to treat both H1N1 and the seasonal flu. Three of the patients who contracted the drug-resistant strain have died.

All four of the patients were being treated in an isolated unit in the Hospital before their cases were announced in a Nov. 20 news release, which noted that the patients were all extremely sick with “underlying severely compromised immune systems and multiple other complex medical conditions.”

Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service interviewed hospital employees and patient family members in an attempt to trace the origin of the four cases, Dr. Joseph Govert, director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, told The Chronicle in a previous interview.

CDC members also assisted the Hospital in repeated testing for the drug-resistant strain in other patients being treated for swine flu and other patients in the isolated unit where the strain was found.

The drug-resistant cases were not resistant to Relenza, another drug commonly used to treat swine flu, and no cases were reported in the student body or among employees who worked with the patients.

More than 50 cases of drug-resistant H1N1 have been reported around the globe since April, 15 of which have been reported in the United States.