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Asia is world's cradle for new strains of flu
Posted: Apr 17 2008, 02:55 PM
The SF Chronicle had a blurb about the life of a flu virus that I think is interesting:
Scientists have pinpointed the cradle-to-grave path that flu takes as it sweeps the globe every year — starting with the birth of new strains in Asia and ending when the virus burns out in South America.
In between, influenza catches a ride to North America and Europe about six to nine months after a new strain emerges in Asia.
Why those routes? Travel and trade, says Russell: There is far less direct air travel between Asia and South America than Asia and North America, for example. By the time the virus made it to South America, the rest of the planet already had been exposed.
Africa might be a last stopover, too, Russell cautioned. There simply is too little tracking of influenza in Africa to be able to tell.
Scientists have pinpointed the cradle-to-grave path that flu takes as it sweeps the globe every year — starting with the birth of new strains in Asia and ending when the virus burns out in South America.
In between, influenza catches a ride to North America and Europe about six to nine months after a new strain emerges in Asia.
Why those routes? Travel and trade, says Russell: There is far less direct air travel between Asia and South America than Asia and North America, for example. By the time the virus made it to South America, the rest of the planet already had been exposed.
Africa might be a last stopover, too, Russell cautioned. There simply is too little tracking of influenza in Africa to be able to tell.
Posted: Apr 18 2008, 01:29 PM
It's kinda interesting that this is making the news right now. The part about the rural villages being the cradle of the flu virus has been around for quite a while now. A physician friend of mine was telling me a number of years ago that they get most of their flu strains by sampling viruses found in China months before the flu is expected to hit the rest of the world.
There's a rare disorder called Guillane Barre' syndrome that produces Multiple Sclerosis like paralysis and weakness following a bout with the flu. Most people recover from it for the most part and it's exremely rare except for in the same rural villages of China where the villagers live close to chickens and other farm animals. There they have an astronomically high rate of Guillane Barre' syndrome.
There's a rare disorder called Guillane Barre' syndrome that produces Multiple Sclerosis like paralysis and weakness following a bout with the flu. Most people recover from it for the most part and it's exremely rare except for in the same rural villages of China where the villagers live close to chickens and other farm animals. There they have an astronomically high rate of Guillane Barre' syndrome.
