The swine flu illness, or A (H1N1) was given pandemic status by the World Health Organization (a mark of its ability to spread, rather than the severity of the illness) on June 11, 2009.
So far the virus has struck more than 1,000,000 in the USA alone, yet scientists are still learning some extremely fundamental things about this organism, unknown in humans till Apr 2009 in Mexico. It appears this latest influenza virus is affecting the lungs and stomach, while seasonal influenza viruses have a tendency to leave these organs untouched.
The interesting research reports appear in the July 2, 2009 online version of Science. The seasonal influenza pathogen stayed often in the animals' nasal cavities. The A ( H1N1 ) pathogen also found its way into the ferret's abdominal tract, again unlike its seasonal opposite number. When it comes to the new virus' ability to spread, the research groups differ.
The Dutch scientists discovered that swine flu is just as easy to broadcast as the regular influenza, while the US team found A (H1N1) less certain to be spread compared to seasonal influenza. They suspect that the respiration droplets don't appear to broadcast A (H1N1) viruses as well as they do the regular influenza pathogen. "Findings from the study demonstrate that, in ferrets, the novel 2009 H1N1 influenza pathogen leads to increased morbidity and increased respiratory illness when compared to up to date seasonal human influenza viruses," explains analyst Terrence M Tumpey, a senior microbiologist in the influenza branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officers are convinced they are going to be able to create a vaccine for A (H1N1) but the challenge is vaccine making isn't a precise science or a fast process. As it is scientists take a worked out risk each year in selecting which strains of influenza pathogen to guard against.
These latest findings are beneficial according to US analysts as they suggest to authorities what the acceptable public health reply could be. Seasonal influenza, against this, calls for the administration of approximately 115 million vaccinations a year ; children vaccines total 150 million doses yearly. Still to be worked out is finding the medical staff to administer all those shots, and a way to keep control of complications from the vaccination shots.
"One thing we all know for sure about influenza viruses is they are unpredictable," Tumpey warned. "The traits the pathogen is showing today may not remain true in the approaching months.”