Swine flu mutates in Brazil
By Richard Reynolds Australian Broadcast Company
A Brazilian laboratory says it has identified the first genetic variant of the swine flu virus.
Swine flu has infected more than 30,000 people around the world but so far the new variant has only been identified in one patient. It is not known if it is a more virulent strain than the one that emerged in Mexico. The Adolfo Lutz Institute in São Paulo sounded the warning, considering the information vital.
As winter arrives in the southern hemisphere, so does flu season, and as often happens with the influenza virus, it could mutate as it encounters other flu strains and they assimilate their genetic material. This could potentially cause an even more deadly strain of the flu than the one that killed more than 100 people in Mexico.
Scientists in Brazil say they have isolated and identified a new strain of the A(H1N1) swine flu virus from a patient who was hospitalized in São Paulo in April and who has since made a complete recovery. The scientists don’t know if the new strain causes more severe infections.
The new strain came from a sample isolated from a 26-year old São Paulo man who started to have symptoms of flu shortly after returning from Mexico. He was hospitalized on 24 April and has since made a full recovery. While in hospital the patient gave a sample for analysis. […]
The Southern Hemisphere is entering the flu season now, whereas production for the swine flu virus vaccine is still months away from completion, so southern countries will have to face the pandemic without them.
Adaptado de: http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/punditaswine-flu-mutates-in-brazil/Acesso em: 17/06/2009.
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