Although swine influenza viruses usually sicken only pigs, potentially one might also spark a pandemic in people, as occurred with the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. Because few long-term studies have surveyed flu viruses in swine, however, gaps exist in what is known about the evolution of swine influenza viruses and the conditions that enable a swine virus to infect humans and cause disease.
In new research, NIAID-funded scientists analyzed the genetic makeup of more than 650 influenza viruses isolated during the systematic surveillance of pigs slaughtered in Hong Kong between 1998 and 2010. When the investigators supplemented this information with additional data stretching back 34 years, they could discern when specific subtypes of flu virus—including strains that had previously infected only birds or humans—first appeared in Hong Kong swine. The baseline data not only show the evolutionary dynamics in swine influenza, but also highlight ways in which swine flu viruses might most readily adapt to cause infection in people.
Read more about this research here:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2011/Pages/SwineFluEvolution.aspx
Media Availability: Evolution of Swine Flu Viruses Traced in Long-term Study
.png)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario