The first case of avian flu of the H6N1 strain recorded in Taiwan has scientists concerned.
What researchers have found however, is that the new strain has acquired the ability to penetrate human tissue and infect its host.
The patient, a 20 year old woman, was hospitalized in May but recovered after treatment. However, the patient had had no contact with infected poultry, which had been the main source of infection in China of the strain, before it made its way to Taiwan.
This caused scientists concern, because it showed that nowhere near the patient was there a source of the virus. To date, how she became infected is unknown.
That prompted scientists to investigate on the virality of the strain, i.e., its ability to infect its host.
The swab done on the patient revealed that she had been infected with a substrain of the H6N1 strain. And this particular type was shown to have mutated to acquire the ability to target receptor cells, SAa-2,6 which are epithelial cells in the lungs of a human being. By acquiring such ability, the virus had a newfound chance of attaching, and attacking, human cells.
The mutation was in the Hemmaglutinin protein, which is the binding protein that allows the virus to 'hitchhike' to the human tissue.
The discovery therefore, means that this new substrain is much ore infectious to humans.
What is more unsettling however, is the discovery by the same scientists that it also is the prevalent strain now inhabiting poultry in Taiwan and that is endemic in the avian species.
If the virus acquires a better ability to 'jump' from one human to another, in other words its pandemic potential, there could be cause for grave concern. For this reason, preparedness and continuous monitoring of the strain has been recommended.
Because the human body retains a memory of the virus it has come in contact with, the study also detailed how the flu virus wipes out the immune system's first wave of defense to disable this protective mechanism in our bodies
Source : MNT/ 11.15.13
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