Evolution of H7N9

In the past few articles, we have been seeing summaries of articles that states the increase in the number of cases of H7N9 flu virus at different areas, however, we have never really discuss about the start of H7N9 flu virus. Here, we will have an overview of evolution of H7N9 virus.

Report has shown that the H7N9 virus have actually been evolved from four other kind of flu viruses which ranges from wild birds to domestic chickens. This kind of re assortments have also been known to be common among the spread and the evolution of influenza viruses as stated in another article “The Scientist, an article titled “Evolution of H7N9, September 20, 2013.” “. In the same article, is also states that after going through the complete sequencing of H7N9 and H9N2, it acts a marker that the H7N9 virus has actually been a mixture of other kind of virus strains. Will this be a pandemic strain in future, this is a question that has not answer yet.

The random re assortment that H7N9 has undergone shows that it has gotten its hemagglutinin gene has been from domestic ducks, neuramidase gene has been from wild birds and the rest of the gene has been from domestic poultry.

In conclusion,  with all these random assortment in place, with the multiple H arm and the N arm that are present as well as with the different genes that are present in the virus itself,  this  can cause the rise in many different kind of influenza viruses.

References:

1. Weeks.E(2013). Evolution of H7N9, The Scientist, 20th September, retrieved 29th January from <http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37571/title/Evolution-of-H7N9/&gt;
2. Gray.R(2013). Doctors warned to look out for new H7N9 bird flu virus, The Telegraph, 1st May, retrieved 29th January from <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/flu/10031476/Doctors-warned-to-look-out-for-new-H7N9-bird-flu-virus.html&gt;
3. Genetic Evolution of H7N9 Virus in China, 2013, CDC,(n.d) retrieved on 29th January from <https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/avianflu/h7n9-reassortment-diagram.pdf&gt;

Image for header :

http://www.avianflutalk.com/avian-influenza-h7n9-viruses-isolated-from-humans_topic29909.html,