# 3542
Today Jason Gale and Eliana Raszewski of Bloomberg News have a follow up report to the story yesterday (see Argentina Working To Release Viral Sequences) whereby scientists in Argentina hope to do genetic sequencing on 150 isolates taken from severely ill patients over the next few weeks.
The goal, of course, is to see if there have been any genetic changes to the virus that might contribute to its virulence. It may take several weeks before we get any real answers on this, however.
A hat tip to Crof at Crofsblog for picking up this story.
Argentina Flu Death Mystery Sparks Probe for Virus Mutation
By Eliana Raszewski and Jason Gale
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists wondering why swine flu has killed more people in Argentina than almost any other nation are studying whether a more dangerous mutant has emerged.
The Latin American country has reported more than 130 deaths from the pandemic H1N1 flu virus since June. Analyses of specimens taken from two severely ill patients showed subtle genetic differences in the virus, the International Society for Infectious Diseases said in a report via its ProMED-mail program yesterday.
Scientists from Columbia University and Argentina’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases now plan to decode the complete genomic sequences of at least 150 virus samples over the next 10 days to gauge the frequency of the changes and whether they are linked to more severe illness. Major changes in the pandemic virus could erode the effectiveness of vaccines being prepared to fight the scourge.
“We are cautious about the findings until we have more sequences,” said Gustavo Palacios, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University, who is participating in the study. The changes already noted haven’t previously been associated with greater virulence, he said today in a telephone interview from New York.
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