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Influenza viruses can mutate genetically and cause a range of respiratory ailments. The H275Y mutation in the neuraminidase (NA) gene reduces the effectiveness of oseltamivir, a widely used drug for the treatment of Influenza A and B virus infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends single‐nucleotide polymorphism assays to detect this mutation. The present study aims to estimate the prevalence of H275Y mutation conferring oseltamivir resistance in Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus among hospitalized patients from June 2014 to December 2021. Following the WHO protocol, allelic discrimination real‐time RT‐PCR was performed for 752 samples. Out of the 752 samples, 1 tested positive for Y275 gene mutation by allelic discrimination real‐time RT‐PCR. In samples of years 2020 and 2021, neither the H275 nor Y275 genotype was detected. Sequencing of the NA gene of all negative samples showed a mismatch between the NA sequence and the probes used in the allelic discrimination assay. Also, Y275 mutation was detected in only 1 sample from 2020. The prevalence of oseltamivir resistance was estimated as 0.27% among the Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 patients during 2014−2021. The study highlights that the WHO‐recommended probes for detecting H275Y mutation may not be useful to detect 2020 and 2021 circulating strains of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, emphasizing the need for continuous monitoring of mutations in the influenza virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The H275Y and E119D neuraminidase (NA) mutations constitute important molecular markers of resistance to NA inhibitors in A(H1N1) pdm09 viruses. We used reverse transcriptase-droplet digital PCR amplification (RT-ddPCR) to analyze quasi-species at codons 275 and 119 of the NA in A(H1N1) pdm09 viruses recovered from an immuncompromised patient who received oseltamivir and zanamivir therapies. RT-ddPCR assays detected and quantified H275Y and E119D mutations with an efficiency that was comparable to that of high throughput sequencing (HiSeq 2500 Illumina, San Diego, CA) technology. With its sensitivity and reproducibility, RT-ddPCR could be a reliable method for accurate detection and quantification of major NAI-resistance mutations in clinical settings. J. Med. Virol. 89:737-741, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]