Abstract
“Survival of the fittest” is an old axiom laid down by the great evolutionist Charles Darwin and microorganisms seem to have exploited this statement to a great extent. The ability of viruses to adapt themselves to the changing environment has made it possible to inhabit itself in this vast world for the past millions of years. Experts are well versed with the fact that influenza viruses have the capability to trade genetic components from one to the other within animal and human population. In mid April 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization had recognized a dramatic increase in number of influenza cases. These current 2009 infections were found to be caused by a new strain of influenza type A H1N1 virus which is a re-assortment of several strains of influenza viruses commonly infecting human, avian, and swine population. This evolution is quite dependent on swine population which acts as a main reservoir for the reassortment event in virus. With the current rate of progress and the efforts of heath authorities worldwide, we have still not lost the race against fighting this virus. This article gives an insight to the probable source of origin and the evolutionary progress it has gone through that makes it a potential threat in the future, the current scenario and the possible measures that may be explored to further strengthen the war against pandemic.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wright P and Webster R (2001) Orthomyxoviruses In: Fields Virology, 4th edn, pp. 1533–1579. Edited by D. Knipe and P. Howley. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Khanna M and Kumar P (2002) Influenza: A serious global threat. J. Infect. Dis. Antimicro Agents 19:25
Khanna M, Kumar P, Choudhary K, Kumar B and Vijayan VK (2008) Emerging influenza virus: A global threat. J. Biosci. 33: 475–482
Reid AH and Taubenberger JK (2003) The origin of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus: a continuing enigma. Journal of General Virology 84:2285–2292
Schafer JR, Kawaoka Y, Bean WJ, Suss J, Senne D and Webster RG (1993) Origin of the pandemic 1957 H2 influenza A virus and the persistence of its possible progenitors in the avian reservoir. Virology 194:781–788.
Scholtissek, C, Koennecke I and Rott R (1978) Host range recombinants of fowl plague (influenza A) virus. Virology 91:79–85
ECDC Interim Risk Assessment: Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic. [Online]. 2009 July 20; Available from: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/files/pdf/Health_topics/090720_Influenza_A(HINI)_Risk_Assessment.pdf.
Outbreak of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection-Mexico, March–April 2009, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 58 (2009) 467–470
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Information on swine flu; daily press release http://mohfw.nic.in/press-release-onswine-flu.htm
Zhou NN, Senne DA, Landgraf JS, Swenson SL, Erickson G, Rossow K and Liu L (1999) Genetic reassortment of avian, swine, and human influenza A viruses in American pigs. J. Virol. 73:8851–8856
Morens DM, Taubenberger JK and Faucia AS The persistant legacy of 1918 influenza virus N Engl J Med 361:225–229
Trifonov V, Khiabanian H, Greenbaum B and Rabadan R (2009) The origin of recent swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infecting humans. Eurosurveillance 4:1
Zheng K, SongNian HU, TianXian LI (2009) Genome evolution of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus in human. Chinese Sci Bull 54:2159–2163
Khanna M, Gupta N, Gupta A and Vijayan VK (2009) Influenza A (H1N1) 2009: a pandemic alarm, J Biosci 34:481–489
MaurerStroh S, Ma J, Lee RTC, Sirota FL and Eisenhaber F (2009) Mapping the sequence mutations of 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus neuraminidase relative to drug and antibody binding sites. Biol Direct 4:18–47
Garten RJ, Davis CT, Russell CA, Shu B, Lindstrom S, Balish A et al (2009) antigenic and genetic characteristics of swine origin 2009 A (H1N1) influenza viruses circulating in humans. Science 325:197–201
Trifonov V, Racaniello V and Rabadan R, (2009) The contribution of the PB1-F2 protein to the fitness of Influenza A virus and its recent evolution in 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic virus. N Engl J Med 360, 115–119
Eccles R (2005) Understanding the symptoms of the common cold and influenza. Lancet Infect. Dis. 5: 718–725.
CDC, Antiviral Drugs and Swine Influenza, http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/antiviral_swine.htm (Accessed at 28 August 2009)
Update: drug susceptibility of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) viruses, April 2009. (2009) MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 58:433–435
Three Indian Companies working to develop swine flu vaccine, August 2009 http://www.zeenews.com/news554120.html
Global surveillance during an influenza pandemic, Geneva: World Health Organization 2009 http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/global_pandemic_influenza=surveillance_apr09.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khanna, M., Kumar, B., Gupta, N. et al. Pandemic swine influenza virus (H1N1): A threatening evolution. Indian J Microbiol 49, 365–369 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-009-0064-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-009-0064-3