Persistent Influenza

July 17, 2009

Excerpt:

An influenza genome is generally very unstable and highly susceptible to rapid mutation and recombination within its genetic composition. The current swine flu is decoded as of A(H1N1) subtype whereas the previous Avian flu belonged to A(H5N1) subtype. Pigs can potentially be mixing container where all flu types may swap genes amongst themselves, owing to its vulnerability to all the types of flu that can affect mankind.

As said before, there s a high probability that this mutual reassortment of genes of different influenza viruses in a single host may lead to production of a new strain that spreads easily. The aforesaid genetic reassortment will occur when different strains of influenza virus affect a single cell. According to calculations, such a new strain requires practically many years of continuous reassortments to emerge. For example, the new strains of swine origin flu virus [(H1N1)(S-OIV)] has emerged over years by continuous reshuffling of 8 gene segments contributed by three different strains stated as human flu, North American Avian flu and the Classic Swine flu.