Mutation of H1N1: the cautious specialists

[recyclinage]

The Director General of Health has estimated that the vaccines remain effective despite the three cases of mutation of the virus observed in Norway. In France, 117 potential cases have been announced in a school.

Experts remain cautious about interpreting the mutation of the H1N1 pandemic virus detected in three cases in Norway (two of whom have died), and are confident in the effectiveness of vaccines. For the virologist Bruno Lina, director of the National Reference Center for Influenza Viruses for the South of France, the mutation of the virus is not "a surprise". "It was expected, it was announced. And it will start again, "he told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. "It does not change anything about the treatment and the vaccines," he said. In the United States, an official of the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Anne Schuchat, assured that the mutation "had no impact on the effectiveness of the vaccine or antivirals". In addition to Norway, cases of virus mutations have also been detected since April in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine and the United States, according to WHO, which announced the three cases of mutation in Norway. .

The Director General of Health, Didier Houssin, also felt that vaccines remained effective. "Immunogenicity (ability of the vaccine to induce an immune response) is not affected by this mutation, so vaccines remain safe," he told Europe 1. "It was because we were afraid of such a mutation that we made sure that a number of our vaccines were adjuvanted vaccines," he said. The adjuvants make it possible to broaden the spectrum of effectiveness of the vaccines, so that they can act against a virus that has slightly changed.

In the case observed in Norway, the virus "presents a modification in a very particular place, the zone that binds to the receptor" on human cells, Prof. Lina explained. This mutation could potentially allow the virus to attach to cells present in the pulmonary alveoli, that is to say deep in the lung. "For the moment, we are at a purely descriptive stage. It will be necessary to verify if these viruses acquired a particular characteristic which makes that they would be able potentially to give pulmonary forms more easily ", he indicated. Pulmonary forms are usually associated with a severity factor. "A mutation is not additional dangerousness systematically," said Professor Lina. It remains to be determined whether this mutant virus "will take over the others" or conversely remain an epiphenomenon.

A "worrying" change

Professor Houssin considered this mutation "worrying", because it "may allow the virus to spread further down the lungs and give a more severe lung disease". But this mutation "does not reflect the particular circulation of a virus that has completely changed," he tempered. Asked moreover about possible human-to-human transmission of a strain of Tamiflu-resistant pandemic virus in Wales, Pr Houssin said that "it is also a very punctual and beginner".

"In Britain, Tamiflu has been used a lot," Lina said. The few cases of resistance do not jeopardize the management by Tamiflu, he said. "It just means we have to use these products properly." In France, no case of resistance has yet been found.

The H1N1 flu virus has caused about 6.750 deaths worldwide, according to the latest WHO count. In France, the balance sheet stood Friday night at 56 deaths in France, to which are added 28 deaths overseas. Professor Lina noted a very significant increase this week in influenza activity in pediatrics at the University Hospital of Lyon, fearing that it will be "worse" this weekend.

The prefecture of Paris has finally announced Saturday that Chernoviz Elementary School, in the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris, will be closed next week, almost a quarter of its 482 students are affected or suspected of having contacted the virus. 117 cases of H1N1 are "reported, including 61 confirmed cases and 56 suspected cases".

http://www.lefigaro.fr/sante/2009/11/21 ... dents-.php

[recyclinage]

I remember talking about the mutation of viruses at the very beginning of the epidemic

with global warming it will surely accelerate, ...

[Christophe]

The coronavirus has competition ... via an evolution of the h1n1 ... Saint Raoult pray for us!

China finds worrying swine flu virus capable of causing pandemic

HEALTH This strain which descends from H1N1 seems to have infected Chinese workers

https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2811091- ... r-pandemie