- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and other experts have rejected a report that a new strain of the novel
[2009 swine-origin] H1N1 influenza virus has been identified in a Brazilian
patient.
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- Scientists at Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute in
Sao Paolo said they found the new strain in a local patient who has recovered,
according to a Medical News Today (MNT) report, which was based on information
from the institute and Agence France-Presse [see also ProMED-mail post:
Influenza A (H1N1) - worldwide (66): new strain, sequence analysis archive
number 20090617.2235]. The story said the scientists found "a number
of discrete alterations in nucleotide and amino acid sequences" in
the isolate's hemagglutinin (HA) gene. They also analyzed the matrix-protein
(MP) gene and found no changes.
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- But CDC spokesman Joe Quimby in Atlanta discounted the
report that the isolate is a new strain. "Our scientists have no knowledge
of a new strain of novel A H1N1 influenza," he said. "It's the
same strain; it's not a new strain," Quimby added. The Brazilian researchers
labeled the isolate A/Sao/Paolo/1454/H1N1. They deposited the nucleotide
sequences for the HA and MP genes in GenBank under accession numbers GQ247724
and GQ250156, the MNT report said.
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- Vincent Racaniello, a Columbia University virologist
who writes Virology Blog, also dismissed the claim of a new strain. "Comparison
of the amino acid sequence of the HA protein of A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 with
those of other isolates of the current pandemic strain reveals no alterations
in the HA protein which would allow the virus to infect new hosts,"
Racaniello wrote in his blog. "The HA protein of this virus and many
other 2009 H1N1 isolates are identical. The few amino acid differences
with other 2009 H1N1 isolates are in areas that would not be expected to
influence antigenicity or host range."
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- The MNT report said the virus came from a 26-year-old
Sao Paolo man who fell ill shortly after returning from a trip to Mexico.
He was hospitalized on 24 Apr 2009 and later recovered.
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- http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/jun1709flustrain.html
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- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural
Economics Univ of West Indies Please visit my "Emerging Diseases"
message board at: http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php Also my
new website: http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/ Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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