More infectious, unlikely to mutate

"Take a look at this."

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 1:
“The H1N1 pandemic virus has a clear biological advantage over the two main seasonal flu strains and all the makings of a virus fully adapted to humans,” Daniel Perez of the University of Maryland said in a statement.

“I’m not surprised to find that the pandemic virus is more infectious, simply because it’s new, so hosts haven’t had a chance to build immunity yet. Meanwhile, the older strains encounter resistance from hosts’ immunity to them,” Perez said. The researchers also found that the pandemic virus established infections deeper in the ferrets’ respiratory system, including the lungs, while the seasonal flu strains remained in the nasal passages. That confirmed observations in people. “The findings of this study are preliminary, but the far greater communicability of the pandemic virus is a clearly blinking warning light,” he said. The World Health Organization predicts a third of the world’s population will eventually be infected with swine flu.

Health Minister Dr Hilal Al-Sayer assured here on Tuesday that preperations are ready in all the medical centers in cooperation with Ministry of Education to deal with any swine flu crisis. In a statement to KUNA, Al-Sayer said after a meeting of the parliamentary health committee that took place today that the health situation in Kuwait is stable, and there is no need for undue concern. He praised the role of parliament members through their comments and opinions during the meeting, and affirmed to take them into consideration.

During the meeting, the preperation of the Health ministry was presented in the presence of WHO experts to combat the swine flu, where they were invited by Kuwait to examine the sitaution. Since April, the ministry has been following the situation of swine flu, and therefore, 120 clinics in different schools will be medically equipped in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Al-Sayer added. He said that the protoclos of the swine flu treatment have been developed and that as a result the number of cases have decreased lately.

Full story on source: