Study Suggests New Flu Virus Could Be A Mongrel
Posted on: Friday, 1 May 2009, 10:37 CDT
U.S. researchers reported on Thursday that the new virus which has killed as many as 177 people around the world is a mongrel that appears to have mixed with another hybrid virus containing swine, bird and human bits, Reuters reported.
Columbia University researchers have analyzed the published genetic sequences from the H1N1 virus that has nearly reached pandemic proportions.
Lead researcher Raul Rabadan said swine viruses seem to be the closest relatives to the new virus that is currently circulating.
Rabadan and colleagues wrote in the online journal Eurosurveillance: "Six segments of the virus are related to swine viruses from North America and the other two from swine viruses isolated in Europe/Asia."
After discovering this virus in two U.S. children last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it had four virus types -- two swine, an avian and a human component.
However, some experts fear it may be even more complex than current studies indicate.
Rabadan's team said due to the constant mutation of influenza viruses and their ability to swap genetic material with one another promiscuously — particularly if an animal or person is infected with two strains at the same time — this particular strain looks partly like another hybrid, or what scientists call a reassortant virus.
The team wrote that the North American ancestors are related to the multiple reassortants, H1N2 and H3N2 swine viruses isolated in North America since 1998.
They concluded that the swine H3N2 isolates from 1998 were a triple reassortant of human, swine and avian origin.
In an attempt to track the origin of the new virus, scientists are studying those particular genetics.
Meanwhile, officials in Mexico have denied the strain came from Mexican pig farms and pork producers have been battling rumors it could have started from pigs in the area.
But the findings did not show the virus came directly from pigs, according to Rabadan.
"We don't know how long this virus has been in humans," he added.
While numerous different strains of influenza strains are circulating at any given time, experts say the pandemic strains that can cause global outbreaks from a whole new strain are believed to have originated from animals.
Rabadan said they know that with the two pandemics in 1957 and 1968 they were coming from a mixture of human and avian viruses.
Published analyses suggest the H1N1 strain that caused the far more serious 1918 pandemic appears to have been virtually a pure avian strain.
---
Image Caption: Swine Influenza. Credit: C. S. Goldsmith and A. Balish/CDC
---
On the Net:
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Related Articles
- Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus May Not Be Associated With Human Prostate Cancer
- Avian Influenza Strain Primes Brain For Parkinson's Disease
- Avian Influenza Strain Primes Brain for Parkinson's Disease
- Medicago's H5N1 VLP Vaccine Demonstrates Cross-Reactivity Against Multiple Strains of Avian Flu in Key Ferret Animal Model
- New Vaccine Against Deadliest Strain of Avian Flu Tested By University of Pittsburgh Scientists
- Hemispherx Biopharma to Present at The First International Conference on Avian Influenza in Humans at the Pasteur Institute; Novel Therapeutic Approach Attacks Virus at 3 Levels Simultaneously
- Genaco Templex Test Detects All Known Strains of Avian Flu Within Four Hours
- Global Meeting to Develop Common Approach on Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic Influenza
- Europe Bracing for Most Feared Avian Flu Strain
- Ministries on Alert for Sichuan Swine Virus Infection
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds