Swine/Avian/Human Components of virus

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   This is an excellent article from MSNBC's Cosmo Log from April 29th 6:15pm.  It is written by science editor Alan Boyle and he does an excellent job laying out the complexities of this virus in layman friendly terms.   In a portion of the article he quotes the CDC and they very specifically state that this virus has components from  swine, avian and human viruses, "The CDC's lab had its sequencers primed and ready to go in advance - first to identify the virus as a swine-flu strain, then to get a complete genetic sequence. "Looking at that genetic sequencing data, you can draw conclusions about the origins of this virus," said John Treanor, a virus expert at the University of Rochester.
The virus was classified as an H1N1 type - the same general type that was seen during the 1976 swine-flu outbreak, but with some novel twists. CDC official Nancy Cox said the virus' RNA mixed together bits from North American avian flu and swine flu, at least one bit from human flu, and at least two bits from Asian and European swine flu."

How did all those bits get mixed together? Pigs are regarded as particularly good "mixing vessels" for RNA swaps, because they can contract flu viruses from humans and birds as well as other swine. All those bits of RNA can recombine within the pigs' cells, resulting in lots of possible disguises for the resulting viruses. One of those genetic disguises was so successful that the virus made another species-crossing jump from pigs to humans.
Now that the virus' genetic sequence has been decoded, it can be used as a fingerprint to track its spread. "For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said at a news conference today.

Here is the link:http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/29/1914636.aspx

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MinnesotaMom Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List V.I.P. Member Joined: June 02 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 63	Post Options Post Reply Quote MinnesotaMom Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Swine/Avian/Human Components of virus Posted: April 30 2009 at 6:44am
	This is an excellent article from MSNBC's Cosmo Log from April 29th 6:15pm. It is written by science editor Alan Boyle and he does an excellent job laying out the complexities of this virus in layman friendly terms. In a portion of the article he quotes the CDC and they very specifically state that this virus has components from swine, avian and human viruses, "The CDC's lab had its sequencers primed and ready to go in advance - first to identify the virus as a swine-flu strain, then to get a complete genetic sequence. "Looking at that genetic sequencing data, you can draw conclusions about the origins of this virus," said John Treanor, a virus expert at the University of Rochester. The virus was classified as an H1N1 type - the same general type that was seen during the 1976 swine-flu outbreak, but with some novel twists. CDC official Nancy Cox said the virus' RNA mixed together bits from North American avian flu and swine flu, at least one bit from human flu, and at least two bits from Asian and European swine flu." How did all those bits get mixed together? Pigs are regarded as particularly good "mixing vessels" for RNA swaps, because they can contract flu viruses from humans and birds as well as other swine. All those bits of RNA can recombine within the pigs' cells, resulting in lots of possible disguises for the resulting viruses. One of those genetic disguises was so successful that the virus made another species-crossing jump from pigs to humans. Now that the virus' genetic sequence has been decoded, it can be used as a fingerprint to track its spread. "For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said at a news conference today. Here is the link:http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/29/1914636.aspx