Gene Mutation Caused 2009 H1N1 Virus Spread

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.

Comments

How come viruses get all the cool mutations?

[Spazntwich]

Hey, can I get a single nucleotide polymorphism that enables limb regeneration?

No, I get a weird catecholamine oxidizer that makes me more likely to kill people.

Re:How come viruses get all the cool mutations?

[thms]

Oh, but you do get mutations! In fact, mutations which allow you to defeat H1N1! And not just a single replaced amino acid, no, lots more! Now how does that silly virus look?

When an immune systems B-cell find something it doesn't like, such as a virus, it goes into a feedback loop, mutates itself so that some copies will dislike said virus even more. In the end you have an immune system against which this virus doesn't stand a chance even though it was a completely unknown pathogen hours earlier. And this response will remain intact for years! (see: vaccination) This is called somatic hypermutation. On the downside, somatic means it won't make it into your germ line so your children will have to mutate all on their own again (though IIRC some of the mothers immune system cells make it into the child to help out a bit).

Government Genetic Gene Mutation Caused H1N1

[Anonymous Coward]

FTFY

Simply put, H1N1 was fine tuned by the government in a lab. The H1N1 was a completely engineered 'pandemic' from top to bottom, in order to get a brainless populace to take a vaccine that will damage their DNA.

As a flu researcher...

[Vornzog]

The linked summary article is so much technobabble. Slashdot is full of smart people who can handle a link to an open access journal article...

Go to http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001034 to find out that the lack of a Lysine (K627) in the PB2 gene would normally prohibit this virus from replicating in humans, but is compensated for by the presence of a Arginine (R591) residue. These are both basic amino acids, and are located near each other on the structure. So, just a standard compensatory mutation - the sort of thing flu does all the time.

This is a nice bit of science, but it hardly explains the cause of the whole pandemic (this was a Franken-virus cobbled together from 4 other viruses). More science, less sensationalism, please!

Re:Pandemic?

[Red Flayer]

It's disingenuous to compare normal flu fatalities to the H1N1 fatality figures from last year. Especially since H1N1 was in addition to our normal flu fatalities.

All that media hype *did* have an effect... more people were vaccinated, more people stayed home when sick, more schools were closed during local outbreaks, etc.

Yes, I agree it was over-hyped. Mostly because the media corps knew that it wold sell copy and sell ads.

But you'd be pretty damn hard-pressed to show that the hype didn't save lives and improve productivity.

Another note:

According to the WHO report from August 6th the number of confirmed deaths was less than 20,000 (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2010_08_06/en/index.html).

No. The figures reported in that report are minimum figures. The CDC reported 8533 deaths confirmed due to H1N1 in the US; if you check that number with the CDC, they state that the actual number is likely FAR higher.

And something that should be noted

[Sycraft-fu]

Is that is WAS a pandemic but the word doesn't mean what most people think. Pandemic has the connotation of something that kills a lot, but it really just means a disease that spreads a lot. It literally means "an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world." So you can have a harmless pandemic (as this one largely was) just as you can have an extremely fatal disease that doesn't spread much. A pandemic itself isn't scary, it is a pandemic of a disease with a high kill rate that is.

So for the people who feel like it wasn't really a pandemic, that is simply a function of the media sensationalizing a word. The disease was a pandemic in its spread, but its kill rate was exceedingly low, even lower than normal flu strains, meaning that the net harm wasn't very much.

Re:Still here?

[The Archon V2.0]

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.)