1918 Flu Resulted In Current Lineage Of H1N1 Swine Influenza Viruses
- From: "Eliot Montevideo" <Eliot Montevideo@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 18:29:14 +0200
1918 Flu Resulted In Current Lineage Of H1N1 Swine Influenza Viruses
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2009) ? In 1918 a human influenza virus known as the
Spanish flu spread through the central United States while a swine
respiratory disease occurred concurrently. A Kansas State University
researcher has found that the virus causing the pandemic was able to infect
and replicate in pigs, but did not kill them, unlike in other mammalian
hosts like monkeys, mice and ferrets where the infection has been lethal.
Juergen A. Richt, Regents Distinguished Professor of Diagnostic Medicine and
Pathobiology at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine, studied the 1918
Spanish flu pandemic with colleagues from the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Their research supports the hypothesis that the 1918 pandemic influenza
virus and the virus causing the swine flu were the same. Richt said the
virus was able to infect and replicate in swine and cause mild respiratory
disease. The 1918 virus spread through the pig population, adapted to the
swine and resulted in the current lineage of the H1N1 swine influenza
viruses. The researchers' study is published in the May 2009 Journal of
Virology.
"This study emphasizes that an influenza virus, which is known to induce a
lethal infection in ferrets and macaques, is not highly virulent in pigs,
indicating a potential resistance of swine to highly virulent influenza
viruses," Richt said. "It also suggests that pigs could have played a role
in maintaining and spreading the 1918 human pandemic influenza virus."
Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that
regularly causes outbreaks of influenza among the animals and can be
transmitted to humans. It is a typical zoonotic agent. While swine flu was
first recognized as a disease in 1918, there also were reports of the
influenza occurring in the Midwest in 1930.
For the study, the researchers used the 1918 pandemic virus and a 1930 H1N1
influenza virus for experimental infections in swine. The 1930 virus was
chosen as a virus because it is thought to be a descendent of the 1918
virus, Richt said.
The researchers did not find a significant difference in effects from the
1918 and 1930 viruses in infected pigs. This was surprising, since the 1918
virus killed more than 20 million people and was lethal to ferrets, mice and
macaques. Another surprising finding from the study was the rapid antibody
response in the animals infected with the 1918 virus, which is not typically
reported for the swine influenza virus.
Richt said he plans to conduct a follow-up project that will study what
makes a swine flu virus a pandemic flu virus.
The researchers conducted the study in the biosafety-level 4 laboratory and
animal cubicle at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Canada.
Adapted from materials provided by Kansas State University.
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