The Osaka prefectural government sent a research paper to a U.S. medical journal on the first case in Japan of a genetic mutation of the new strain of influenza A virus resistant to Tamiflu about a week before making the finding public, local officials said Sunday. ‘‘It’s not that we intentionally placed priority on the manuscript and delayed the announcement,’’ said Tatsuya Oshita, an official of the prefectural government’s health and medical care department. ‘‘As it turned out, we dealt with the matter in a way that could be criticized and we are sorry.’‘
   
The Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu virus was found in a woman in her 40s in Osaka Prefecture on June 18—two weeks before the announcement—through virus sample analysis at the Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, according to the officials. Subsequently, a staff member of the institute submitted a manuscript on the analysis result to the U.S. journal on June 24, but it had not been used in the magazine as of Sunday, the officials said. The prefectural government reported the case to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Wednesday and held a press conference the next day to make it public based on advice from the ministry, they said.