N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

[Giuseppe]

NEJM -- Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

Review Article

Current Concepts

Published at www.nejm.org June 29, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMra0904322)

Historical Perspective ? Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

Shanta M. Zimmer, M.D., and Donald S. Burke, M.D.


On April 17, 2009, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed two cases of swine influenza in children living in neighboring counties in California.1 Here we take a perspective from systems biology to review the series of evolutionary and epidemiologic events, starting in 1918, that led to the emergence of the current swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) strain (S-OIV), which is widely known as swine flu. This article is one of two historical articles on influenza A (H1N1) viruses in this issue of the Journal.2 Our review focuses on the key steps that characterize this viral evolution (Figure 1).
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<cite cite="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMra0904322">NEJM -- Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses</cite>

 

[gsgs]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

nothing new, AFAICT.
Summary of the history of H1N1 since 1918.


-------------------
In 1947, the seasonal vaccine did not provide any protection against influenza.
was found to vary significantly from the 1943 influenza A (H1N1) strain,
especially in the HA segment, where five antigenic sites were involved in amino acid changes.
The HA segment of the 1947 virus, which was discovered to have emerged through intrasubtype reassortment,
--------------------------

"not any protection" due to intrasubtype reassortment.
(also seen more recently in 2003 in Fujian-H3N2)
but older people in 1918 and 2009 are assumed to be protected
from exposure to strains decades old.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

So a lab accident in 1977 in Russia was at the root of the current pandemic?

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

So a lab accident in 1977 in Russia was at the root of the current pandemic?

Remember H1N1 was circulating in swine and poultry between 1957 & 1977.

.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

accession length host protein subtype country year Virus name 28 protein sequences Age Gender 
 ACD85154 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1961 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/1/1961(H1N1))     
 AAD25302 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1961 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/1/1961(H1N1))     
 CAA40730 357 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1963 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Illinois/1963(H1N1))     
 ABV82595 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1966 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/2/1966(H1N1))     
 ABV82584 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1967 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/1/1967(H1N1))     
 ABV25636 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1968 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/1/1968(H1N1))     
 ABR28724 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1970 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/2/1970(H1N1))     
 ABR28702 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1971 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Wisconsin/1/1971(H1N1))     
 ABV25637 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1973 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Iowa/1973(H1N1))     
 CAA40728 358 Swine HA H1N1 Hong Kong 1974 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Hong Kong/1/1974(H1N1))     
 ABR28603 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1975 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Illinois/1/1975(H1N1))     
 ABR28625 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Minnesota/27/1976(H1N1))     
 ABW36322 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Tennessee/23/1976(H1N1))     
 BAA01280 566 Avian HA H1N1 Canada 1976 Influenza A virus (A/mallard/Alberta/35/1976(H1N1))     
 AAB50961 360 Avian HA H1N1 Hong Kong 1976 Influenza A virus (A/goose/Hong Kong/8/1976(H1N1))     
 AAD25304 566 Avian HA H1N1 Canada 1976 Influenza A virus (A/mallard/Alberta/35/1976(H1N1))     
 ABQ45458 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Iowa/1/1976(H1N1))     
 ABQ44394 566 Human HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/New Jersey/1976(H1N1))     
 ABQ45533 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Tennessee/19/1976(H1N1))     
 ABS18465 553 Avian HA H1N1 Hong Kong 1976 Influenza A virus (A/chicken/Hong Kong/14/1976(H1N1))     
 AAB39851 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/New Jersey/11/1976(H1N1))     
 ABR28614 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Kentucky/1/1976(H1N1))     
 ABQ45436 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Tennessee/15/1976(H1N1))     
 ACQ99821 566 Human HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/New Jersey/8/1976(H1N1)) Adult   
 AAB50962 385 Avian HA H1N1 Hong Kong 1976 Influenza A virus (A/chicken/Hong Kong/14/1976(H1N1))     
 AAB52910 327 Avian HA H1N1 Canada 1976 Influenza A virus (A/mallard/Alberta/35/1976(H1N1))     
 ABQ45414 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Tennessee/3/1976(H1N1))     
 ABR15819 566 Swine HA H1N1 USA 1976 Influenza A virus (A/swine/Iowa/4/1976(H1N1))

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

Information: the NEJM paper is available in full free-of-charge and without subscription-registration.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

Remember H1N1 was circulating in swine and poultry between 1957 & 1977.

.

edited

Apparently an old virus strain from 1950 ended up in a Russian lab, where someone infected himself and his family. Large outbreak in 1977 .

It took some time, now it evolved into the current pandemic strain?

In one way or the other, the current pandemic was inevitable, the real root is in the pig industry?

 

[gsgs]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

also in poultry ?
Anyway, they had different viruses. And it didn't mutate.

Clearly a human virus from ~1950 which re-emerged in 1977.
Some say from a Russian lab, some from a Chinese lab,
maybe more likely from a US-lab.
Maybe no lab at all.

See Laver?-webpage, wikipedia, earlier threads...

http://virologyhistory.wustl.edu/Laver.htm

We did however make contact with the virologist Chu Chi Ming (his obituary is in Virology , 255, 1, 1999). And we visited Anshan in northern China where the first case of Russian Flu (H1N1) was isolated on May 4, 1977. We saw for ourselves how primitive Chinese labs had become during the dark days of the Cultural Revolution; no deep freezers, no equipment for storing live viruses for long periods of time. The usual explanation for the re-appearance in 1977 of a virus which was identical to one which was around in 1950 is that the Chinese were experimenting with a live H1N1 vaccine and the virus got away out into the general population. There has never been any evidence for this. I don't believe any live virus could have survived in a Chinese lab during the 27 years since 1950. Furthermore, for what it is worth, Chu Chi Ming was adamant that, in 1977, no work was being done in China with H1N1 viruses. So where this virus had been hiding, undetected and unchanged, for 27 years and what caused its re-emergence is a complete mystery.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

From the NEJM paper:

The absence of antibodies against influenza A (H1N1) swine virus in children born in 1919 or later is evidence that the virus rapidly mutated to a new antigenic variant

I wonder if this is what the New Zealand scientist was referring to when she said that our novel H1N1 should stay relatively stable for the the first year+ then as it hits the antibodies from the 2009 version, it will rapidly mutate.

.

 

[gsgs]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

edited

Apparently an old virus strain from 1950 ended up in a Russian lab, where someone infected himself and his family. Large outbreak in 1977 .

It took some time, now it evolved into the current pandemic strain?

In one way or the other, the current pandemic was inevitable, the real root is in the pig industry?

not the current pandemic strain which goest back to 1918 in most segments
and then the swine-route.
but the seasonal H1N1 since 1977

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: N Engl J Med. Historical Perspective -- Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

edited

Apparently an old virus strain from 1950 ended up in a Russian lab, where someone infected himself and his family. Large outbreak in 1977 .

It took some time, now it evolved into the current pandemic strain?

In one way or the other, the current pandemic was inevitable, the real root is in the pig industry?

I was just looking at the HAs from those years, and I'd say that short Russian flu in 1977 is very different (at least in the HA) from the years immediately preceeding it. What also struck me was how different the 1976 human strain was.

I just compared 1949 to 1978 human HA, and I can see why that story took hold. There are some differences in that 1977 Russian flu that are the same as a Roma/1949 and Albany/1950, and that Russian lab must have had another accident in 1954 - because there's the same set of differnces in Leningrad/1954. Then they're in Tientsin/1977, HongKong/1977, then 4 samples labeled USSR/1977. Interesting.

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