vaccine to protect against infection. Thus the type A virus that caused theHong Kong flu epidemic of 1968 has type 3 H molecules and type 2 Nmolecules, and is called A(H3N2).
Development of new strains of virus
The problem in combating flu viruses arises not through mutation, butthrough recombination. Viral genes are readily reassorted by geneticrecombination, sometimes putting together novel combinations of H andN spikes unrecognizable by human antibodies specific for the oldconfiguration. Viral recombination of this kind seems to have beenresponsible for the three major flu pandemics (that is, world wideepidemics) that have occurred in this century, by producing drastic shiftsin H N combinations. The "killer flu" of 1918, A(H1N1), killed 21 millionpeople. The Asian flu of 1957, A(H2N2), killed over 100,000 Americans.The Hong Kong flu of 1968, A(H3N2), infected 50 million people in theUnited States alone, of which 70,000 died
.
Flu epidemics in Asia
It is no accident that new strains of flu usually originate in the far east. Themost common hosts for influenza virus are ducks, chickens, and pigs,which in Asia often live in close proximity to each other and to humans.Pigs are subject to infection by both bird and human strains of the virus,and individual animals are often simultaneously infected with multiplestrains. This creates conditions favoring genetic recombination betweenstrains, producing new combinations of H and N subtypes. The Hong Kongflu, for example, arose from recombination between A(H3N8) [from ducks]
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