Indonesias first cases of the new H1N1 flu, known as swine flu, have raised concerns that if the virus spreads it could combine with the entrenched and deadly H5N1 avian influenza to create a more lethal strain of flu.
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari, who confirmed six new H1N1 cases on Sunday, said she was concerned about H1N1, widely known as swine flu, "marrying" with H5N1 avian flu.
Influenza viruses not only mutate quickly and unpredictably, but they can swap genes,especially if a person or animal becomes infected with two strains at once. The new H1N1 strain is itself a mixture of various strains, genetic tests show.
Even if this worst-case scenario did not occur, experts say populous, developing countries such as Indonesia, India or Egypt, where healthcare systems can be rudimentary, will suffer more deaths from the new virus.
H5N1 bird flu has been circulating in Asia for years and has hit Indonesia harder than any other country.
Although it only rarely infects people, it has killed 262 out of 433 infected globally since 2003, with 141 of those cases in Indonesia.
"We are scared because we are the warehouse of the worlds most virulent H5N1," Supari said.
"I am worried if the viruses encounter each other in the field," C.A. Nidom, the head of the Avian Influenza lab at Airlangga University in Surabaya, said.
The World Health Organisation declared a pandemic of H1N1 swine flu earlier this month and said the virus causes a moderately severe flu, spreading very easily from person to person.
H5N1 spreads mostly from a bird to a person and stops there, but is far deadlier.
The mortality rate for H1N1 is 0.2 percent, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, while for H5N1 it is just over 60 percent.
Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/29/2009-06-29_could_swine_flu_m ix_with_bird_flu_to_create_even_deadlier_strain.html
What we are teaching to prepare folks for the probable eventuality of a much deadlier Pan-Flu virus:
http://TheWellnessFoundation.com/Pan-Flu
How to not be fearful:
Trust the truth, Who is Jesus !!!
http://T3WiJ.com
Love in the truth,
Andrew <>< -- Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD Human Geneticist, Molecular Biologist, Board-certified Cardiologist, and Author of "Trust the Truth:" http://HeartMDPhD.com/T3Book
"... no one can say 'Jesus is LORD' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor 12:3) http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.cardiology/msg/035c93540862751c?
What are the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven? http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.cardiology/msg/980b41e6999de315?
Only the truth can cure the "hunger is starvation" delusion: http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.cardiology/msg/74281ab7d7ce78de?
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