Two French men die from mutated H1N1 virus

Updated: 2009-11-28 04

(Xinhua)

PARIS: Two French men have died from mutated A/H1N1 virus recently, the country's Institute for Public Health Surveillance(InVS) announced Friday.

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The two victims were total strangers and in different hospitals. One of them appeared resistant symptom to antiviral drugs, InVS said.

The flu surveillance institute said the mutation was similar to the recent cases reported in Norway, but it won't affect the effectiveness of flu vaccines.

By far, a similar mutation of A/H1N1 virus has been reported in Norway, Ukraine, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China and Japan.

There has been tens of cases reported resistant to antiviral drugs for now, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus in it mutated form remained sensitive to antiviral and pandemic vaccines.

No evidence till now suggested the mutated virus be able to transmit among humans, WHO said, the current cases were random.