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Swine Flu Mutation Worries Norway Scientists

CDC official says it's no cause for alarm

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 20, 2009 1:18 PM CST | Updated Nov 20, 2009 1:37 PM CST
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(Newser) – Norwegian scientists say they've discovered a mutated version of swine flu in two patients who died and another who is severely ill. The mutation "could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease," said the nation's health institute. Bottom line from health officials in the US and with WHO: It's not a huge surprise and is no cause for alarm.

"It seems that the mutated virus does not circulate in the population, but might be a result of spontaneous changes which have occurred in these three patients," said the Norwegian government statement. Such mutations are normal, but this one merits "special interest," it noted. The good news is that it's not spreading, one American specialist tells the Washington Post, because "easily transmissible" mutations are the ones to worry about.

A health worker prepares a dose of H1N1 vaccine.
A health worker prepares a dose of H1N1 vaccine.   (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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I don't think that it yet has the public health implications that we worry about.
- Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's Center for Immunization and Repiratory Diseases

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
thezenhaitian
Nov 28, 2009 2:25 AM CST
"Paradox of Vaccination: Is Vaccination Really Effective against Avian Flu Epidemics?" http://www.plosone.org/article...
thezenhaitian
Nov 28, 2009 2:10 AM CST
"Overuse of Vaccines, Anti-Flu Drugs May Result in Human Calamity... Researchers at Shizuoka University in Japan, writing in a recent March 2009 issue of the Public Library of Science (PLoS One), are among the first to sound the alarm that the most relied upon weaponry against the flu, vaccines, may actually apply "immunological pressure on circulating strains of the flu which might engender the emergence of genetic variants with enhanced potential for pathogenicity in humans." Translation: mass vaccination, unless well monitored, may actually induce the dreaded gene mutation that could result in more cases, increased hospitalizations and a larger death toll. Public health officials are just beginning to piece together how treatment-resistant forms of flu viruses develop. The paradox is that if the virulence of a vaccine-resistant flu strain is less than that of the vaccine-vulnerable strain, the epidemic might increase in proportion to the percentage of the population that elects to undergo vaccination. Researchers conclude that "a vaccination that is expected to prevent the spread of the disease can instead foster the spread of the disease." http://www.lewrockwell.com/sar...
JGirl
Nov 20, 2009 9:58 AM CST
i take my chances every year because i've heard too many stories of people getting even sicker after taking the vaccine. in any case, the more we try to vaccinate against something the more likely it is to mutate.

 
Norway • mutation • mutations • World Health Organization • influenza • swine flu • H1N1 virus

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