Gene Mutation Caused 2009 H1N1 Virus Spread 158
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have found that a gene mutation was the reason behind the increased virulence of the 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus which resulted in a pandemic across the world. 'The H1N1 virus, Kawaoka explains, is really a combination of four different avian and swine flu viruses that have emerged over the past 90 years, and even includes genetic residue of the 1918 pandemic virus, an influenza that killed as many as 20 million people.' The University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine researchers identified the relocation of a specific amino acid in the gene matrix that enabled the virus to hijack host cells, a feat that triggered the recent pandemic."
The World Health Organization's director general said H1N1 is likely to lose its status as a pandemic very soon.
Re:Pandemic? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I thought it was unjustified media fearmongerin (Score:4, Insightful)
It WAS and IS unjustified media fear mongering. They had everyone expecting another Spanish flu at least or perhaps a great plague level event. They had people convinced that not getting vaccinated was as good as a death sentence. Governments were stockpiling massive quantities of flu remedies.
Nobody denied that the flu existed and that it was a mutation was a given. The particular mutation involved is interesting.
Note the distinct lack of mass graves, cities shut down or evacuated, auditoriums converted to medical wards, etc. etc. etc. Note how the "pandemic" went into decline even before the flu shots had a chance to become effective. Note how the overall mortality rate was a bit less than that of the typical seasonal flu.
In other words.....YAWN!
Re:Still here? (Score:3, Insightful)
I was thinking the same thing.
I didn't get either vaccine last year (that is, neither H1N1 nor the regular one), and I haven't caught either flu. Basic sanitary practices like washing my hands when I use the bathroom and refusing to share drinks seem to work in today's world.
Re:I thought it was unjustified media fearmongerin (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Still here? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:As a flu researcher... (Score:3, Insightful)
Quite a few less deaths than seasonal flu, seems to be the consensus. It was a pandemic in that it spread world-wide, but not a very deadly one. In fact, WHO seriously debated not calling it a pandemic to prevent panic, but eventually called it anyway because it met the definition.
This got a lot of press because it was a pandemic, and because it effected children instead of seniors. Didn't actually kill that many people, though.
Re:Still here? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was thinking the same thing.
I didn't get either vaccine last year (that is, neither H1N1 nor the regular one), and I haven't caught either flu. Basic sanitary practices like washing my hands when I use the bathroom and refusing to share drinks seem to work in today's world.
Well I got both vaccines and I didn't catch either one, so they must've worked.
Thing is, I have as much proof I was exposed and protected by the vaccines as you have that you were exposed and protected by washing your hands. Which is to say, none. Preventative measures are invisible if they work and invisible if they're never tested, which makes anecdotes even less useful than normal.
But I gotta say... washing hands just after using the bathroom? Maybe if you work from home, but I'd at least add before meals or even snacking to that list. (Edges away from semi-public keyboard used for work.)
Re:Still here? (Score:3, Insightful)
So, your tactic might work for you, and if it does, I say keep it up, but unless you are prepared to take some drastic measures like shutting down the public school system, it won't work for most people. I don't get flue vaccines either. Mostly because at places I have worked, I have noticed a trend that the more people getting flue shots, the higher the rate of people with the flue. That and since I both telecommute and home school, it is really easy for me and my family to avoid people that are really sick.
Re:I thought it was unjustified media fearmongerin (Score:4, Insightful)
Nobody got "bussed out" though. The drugs sit on shelves (expiring rapidly).
It's as if a tropical storm formed on the Atlantic as usual and we evacuated the entire southeast right away, continuing the evacuation even after the spotter planes told us it had broken up and become a light rain shower. A year later and we still haven't officially admitted there is no hurricane.
Thanks to that, if a real killer flu happens that really could wipe out a third of the population, everyone will yawn and nobody will get an actually necessary vaccine.
Re:Not unexpected (Score:2, Insightful)
The 2009 H1N1 must have mutated at a whole other level to be that resistant.
Must have? I find it surprising that so many people believe this was a random event when the first reported case of the
2009 N1H1 was about 80 miles from a research complex for Gilead Sciences (the company that developed Tamiflu) and one of
the researchers looking at 2009 N1H1 stated it was almost identical to a flu virus they'd been working on at the lab.
Production of 400 million capsules at around $12 each is a very big incentive to release a virus.