I feel that I am obliged to share much on Influenza A (H1N1) to ensure correct & accurate information are conveyed to scientific community & the public at large.
H1N1 is nothing new, H1N1 pandemic (i.e. a global epidemic) occurred in 1918 known as a Spanish flu which has caused an estimated of 50 million deaths in Europe! It was believed that the pandemic came in two waves - first wave was mild but the second wave, a year later, was deadly causing many young & healthy population died. The deadly second wave was postulated to be due to mainly severe superimposed bacterial infection.
The main difference with the current H1N1 is that this one is composed of swine (pig), avian (bird) & human genetics in one virus! which has made it a 'brand new' or novel as we call it in a scientific term. Therefore, no one is immune to this new virus & we have no vaccine to protect the population from this disease (H1N1 vaccines trials already started & planned to be used for mass immunisation starting next month).
H1N1 virus is made up of ribonucleic acid (RNA), a genetic material needed for reproducibility, which is very very unstable therefore the virus is easily transformed or mutated through drift (major mutation) or shift (minor) of the haemaglutinin (H) & neuraminidase (N) lipoproteins on the viral surface. Not only that, the virus is able to be assorted / combined with other influenza viruses from animals and human - which has made it a novel virus with a combination of pig, bird & human infuenza viruses! Therefore, for severe cases, doctors use antiviral such as oseltamivir (tamiflu) which is a neuraminidase inhibitor to stop the process of RNA production.
Currently, the way this novel H1N1 virus behaves is through easily infecting young & healthy population with relatively low mortality rate (0.8% mortality rate worldwide) as compared to seasonal influenza (i.e. on going influenza illnesses other than novel H1N1). Worst if this novel H1N1 combines with current avian flu virus (H5N1 which causes high mortality rate) which will produce another new virus with high infectivity & high mortality! which we foresee this as the deadly second wave of H1N1 pandemic for this millenium! Mudah-mudahan kita semua dilindungi Allah..
Therefore, we are racing against time to ensure that effective H1N1 vaccines are available before this virus mutates! Insya Allah.
