Source of HIN1 is probably a laboratory says New England Journal of Medicines

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Monday, 07 September 2009 10:11

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In a report that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists say that the reemergence of the H1N1 virus in 1977 "is unexplained and probably represents reintroduction to humans from a laboratory source."

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMra0904322

Figure 1. Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses from Birds and Swine into Humans.

The diagram shows the important events and processes in the emergence of influenza A (H1N1) viruses during the past 91 years. Avian, swine, and human populations are represented in the top, middle, and bottom of the diagram, respectively. Epidemic or zoonotic viruses are shown as wide horizontal arrows (white for avian viruses, light blue or pink for swine viruses, and dark blue for human viruses). Cross-species transmissions are shown as vertical dashed lines, with thick lines for transfers that gave rise to sustained transmission in the new host and thin lines for those that were transient and resulted in a self-limited number of cases. Principal dates are shown along the bottom of the diagram. The disappearance of H1N1 in 1957 most likely represents competition by the emerging pandemic H2N2 strain in the face of population immunity to H1N1. The reemergence in 1977 is unexplained and probably represents reintroduction to humans from a laboratory source.

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