Reply #20: recombinant rna [View All]

[scarletlib]

influenza virus is very mutatable and that is why it is so dangerous and vaccines hard to develop. the virus is constantly mutating. most times the variations are small and vaccines provide some protection. Sometimes the change is totally radical. That's where the danger of the pandemic comes in. In the great pandemic of 1918 it was the young and healthy who died in greater numbers than the elderly. The virus had changed so much that the bodies of the young had no resistance to it. The elderly who had had much more exposure to prior epidemics had somewhat greater protection.

Think of virus as a block with colors red/green and blue/orange. you get virus and had flu before. body recognizes the colors and can fight this flu. now next step the colors change slightly to red/white and blue/orange. you get this flu. even with this change the body can figure out the blue/orange and offer some protection.

but if the virus changes radically to red/purple and black/white then you get into more serious problems as it is harder for body to recognize and fight the virus.

Influenza is one of the most mutatable of all viruses and that is why it is dangerous.