H1N1 mutation’s proposed link to severe illness debated

Norwegian scientists today reported a pandemic H1N1 virus mutation that appears to be associated with severe disease, but a leading US flu expert said global data on the mutation don't show a clear connection with severe illness.

A team from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo reports that it found the mutation in 11 of 61 severe illness cases that were analyzed between July and December 2009. The mutation was not found in any of 205 mild cases that were analyzed between May 2009 and January 2010.

“This difference is statistically significant and our data are consistent with a possible relationship between this mutation and the clinical outcome,” says the report by A. Kilander and colleagues, published today in Eurosurveillance. “To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a change in the pandemic virus that correlates with a severe clinical outcome.”

However, Dr. Nancy Cox, director of the Influenza Division at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said global H1N1 data so far do not show a clear association between the mutation and severe illness.

More via CIDRAP >> H1N1 mutation’s proposed link to severe illness debated.