H1N1 NOT SO DANGEROUS AS FIRST THOUGHT SAY SCIENTISTS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) Mon Nov 16, 2009
Ever had the flu? You may have H1N1 protection
People who have had repeated flu infections -- or repeated flu vaccines -- may have some protection against the new pandemic swine influenza, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They found evidence that the human immune system can recognize bits of the new H1N1 virus that are similar to older, distantly related H1N1 strains.
"What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared," said Alessandro Sette, director of the Center for Infectious Disease at California's La Jolla Institute.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may also help explain why many older people are less likely to have severe disease, said Allison Deckhut-Augustine of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"Adults may have some pre-existing immunity for H1N1," Deckhut-Augustine said in a telephone interview.
Swine flu has infected millions of people globally and killed an estimated 3,900 in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug makers are struggling to make vaccines and governments are working to vaccinate their populations.
Bjoern Peters and colleagues at the La Jolla Institute looked at flu epitopes -- molecular markers or structures that the immune system recognizes -- dating back 20 years.
"We found that the immune system's T-cells can recognize a significant percent of the markers in swine flu," Peters said in a statement.
DUAL PROTECTION
The human immune system has two kinds of protection. Antibody response can prevent infection, while T-cells fight infection once it has occurred.
Peters and colleagues found T-cell protection but not antibody response.
"This T-cell response decreases severity of disease but doesn't prevent infection," said Deckhut-Augustine, whose agency helped pay for the study and maintains the public database that Peters used.
The effect could be cumulative, Peters said, which could explain why people over 50 seem to be less likely to get noticeable H1N1 infections.
Influenza is a very mutation-prone virus and from year to year the circulating strains drift, or change slightly. This is why new vaccines must be formulated each year and why people can catch flu again and again.
The new H1N1 was a never-before-seen combination of swine flu viruses, with a sprinkling of human and avian flu virus genetic sequences. But its long-ago ancestor was an H1N1 virus first seen in the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed upwards of 50 million people.
The researchers found that the new H1N1swine flu shared 49 percent of its epitopes with older, seasonal H1N1 strains.
Using blood from healthy donors, they found that T-cells could recognize about 17 percent of these markers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5AF5EO20091116?pageNumber=1&...

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[pauliewaulieflimflam]

Another outstanding bit of information for the arsenal. Thanks ever so much. Great

work finding this stuff, I have been talking to people and this helps.

[cinstlu]

Well actually plenty of people I know have been diagnosed with colds and regular flu and even non descript viruses. I think it's time people stop thinking it's some conspiracy and accept it all for what it is. My son got vaccinated for h1n1...I caught h1n1 from friend, my son didn't get sick. Tamiflu did help me but it was worse flu I ever had. Everything as predicted by CDC.

[gangstagrannie]

hands up who else has noticed that so far in 2009 not one single person has been diagnosed with a regular flu or cold?.................I wouldn't be suprised if most of the H1N1 'victims' just had a regular cold. Don't worry, normal colds and flu will be back next year and no one will notice the deaths from them.

[AlterEgoTrip]

I think I had the last round of swine flu in 1976, because I had a massive flu at about the middle of Feb that year, and I suppose this is why, my contact with the Swine flu areas have not resulted in any kind of flu at all nor any flu like symptoms... but I'm not certain how much of a hoax the 76 scare was, or how many actually contracted the virus then.. if it was out there, I had it, certainly. It was nasty too, but still just a flu.

[theartsychik]

Well there you go...one more reason not to get that f__ing shot!

I would stay out of the Ukraine right now...

[CleverDjembe]

Plague. Different thing.

[lindazkewl]

Cool info. But what about that virus, or whatever the heck it is, going around in the Ukraine at this time?

[dinkolino2]

that you might have some protection was ofcourse evident from the start because H1N1 is a seasonal flu, and the swine flu is just an H1N1 subtype.