Influenza A (H1N1) Blog

Posts Tagged ‘H1N1’

1. October 19, 2010

   The pandemic Influenza keeps reassorting

   After more than a year of the Influenza A H1N1 episode, the virus is still being monitored all over the world, both the flu cases and genetics diversity of the virus. Following up the genetic diversity helps to understand if the vaccine is still efficient and helps identifying the possible appearance of new strains.
   In Hong [...]

2. June 22, 2010

   Pigs are reservoirs of Influenza

   Why were the older people less affected by the new flu?

   ©be_khe

   The elderly, especially those older than 65 years, that is, born before 1944, constitute the part of the population less affected by H1N1. It was suggested and later confirmed by CDC that it is about the prior immunity to the virus. These people probably have [...]

3. May 12, 2010

   Contaminated Vaccines

   Although H1N1 is circulating around us at least a little bit before 1918, we passed almost 20 years free of it. In 1957, a line of influenza virus received three genes of an avian virus, among them new HA and NA, and started to be called H2N2. With these new proteins, it did not meet [...]

4. February 9, 2010

   Diversity of the Influenza and the reassortment

   One of the most important characteristics to be considered about the Influenza, in the preparation for pandemics, is the reassortment. A mixture of genes of two or more different viruses is able to generate a new variety. Such as the new Influenza A (H1N1).
   Although the mutations have an important role in the diversity of the [...]

5. January 17, 2010

   Flu and art

   Despite the negative image we have about the flu, nothing prevents it from having a certain beauty. This is how the English artist Luke Jerran transforms the way how we see the Influenza. With his glass sculptures, the virus gains an incredible and realistic beauty, once their size is smaller than the length of [...]

6. September 20, 2009

   How do we name Influenza A?

   Where do the name H1N1 and all the other names come from? What determines the number of H and N?
   Established by WHO in1980 [1], the nomenclature of Influenza A consists of: type of host, in case the virus has not been isolated from humans; geographical region of origin; number of lineage; year of isolation and; [...]

7. September 9, 2009

   Prior immunity and flu

   I received a comment from Paulo Amaral with amazing questions, leading me to advance this post. As follows, you can find the questions and the answer explaining what is relevant:
   Would the annual vaccination against flu be liable for the low number of reports in elders?
   What is the efficacy of the vaccine produced by mettles of [...]