Post #16 - Assignment #9: NPR has a hopeful outlook on the future of the H1N1 Virus

In a recent report on the National Public Radio, there was a very hopeful air about the future of the H1N1 Virus that has had the world in fear. (I refuse to refer to it as the "swine flu" because it did not come from pigs, nor is it transferred from pig to human.) Indeed, NPR announced that the flu virus did not have genes from the deadly 1918 strain, and shows fewer signs of deadly virulence than the previous influenza viruses that developed into epidemics had. If this is the case, then H1N1 is significantly less likely to develop into an extremely fatal version of the virus, and if it does have that potential than at very list it will take more time to mutate, giving disease control organizations more time to develop a vaccine.

In another hopeful note, NPR claims that the progress toward this vaccine is already well on its way, and the first stage, isolating the virus, is already complete - just days into the outbreak. Now, bioresearchers will attempt to manipulate the virus's genes and make it weak enough to be killed by the immune system before it incubates, but strong enough to survive the process of the vaccination. Once this is done, the adapted H1N1 virus will be passed along to manufacturers, who will begin to mass produce and distribute the vaccine after clinical trials are done.

"We have no doubt that making a successful vaccine is possible within a relatively short period of time," says a member of the World Health Organization who has begun research toward finding said vaccine.

This all sounds great. However, I will point out, like I stated in a previous post, that I do not believe this virus to be anything more than the standard seasonal flu, and I believe it will go away in a relatively short amount of time without causing too much damage. A vast majority of the cases of H1N1 infection have been very mild, and only the very young, the elderly, and individuals with a compromised immune system need be concerned - just like any other influenza virus.