CDC Virologist Discusses H1N1 Genome
ScienceInsider interviewed virologist Ruben Donis, chief of the molecular Virology and Vaccines branch at the CDC about genetics of the H1N1 virus causing the current swine flu outbreak, with some very interesting revelations.
The genome of the virus has been fully sequenced, and “it’s almost equidistant to swine viruses from the United States and Eurasia. And it’s a lonely branch there. It doesn’t have any close relatives.” Donis notes that the virus likely didn’t start in Mexico, as many seem to believe. Many mysteries remain before we can understand H1N1—its exact evolution, and why most of the cases in Mexico have been so much more severe than most of those in the U.S.
Check out the full interview here.