D225G and D225N In Utah Patient Raises Pandemic Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 23:55
December 6, 2009
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12060901/D225G_D225N_Utah.html
The CDC has put HA sequences, A/Utah/42/2009, from a Utah patient (28F) on deposit at Genbank, which has D225G and D225N. Moreover, the sequence from the original sample gives mixed signals at tandem positions, revealing significant heterogeneity that the codon. A clone for the original sample has D225G. D225N and D225G have been identified in necropsy lung samples from Brazil (A Sao Paulo/53845/2009 and A/Sao Paulo/53838/2009 have D225N while A/Sao Paulo/53225/2009 and A/Sao Paulo/53206/2009 have D225G) raising concerns that these polymorphisms are associated with more severe disease.
The severity may be linked to viral load, because D225G and D225N were present as mixtures in early cases in the US in California and Texas. In fact the vaccine target, A/California/7/2009 was a mixture for D225G, as were several other isolates isolated at about the same time in Texas and California. Other isolates in the same areas, as well as New York, did not give mixed signals, but D225G was found in milder cases.
More recently, these changes were found in more severe cases. All four fatal cases in Ukraine had D225G, while the first fatal cases in Norway had D225G and D225E SNPs. The Utah case above however is the first sample with D225G and D225N. In the United States, the two isolates in New York with D225N had an additional polymorphism which was also in A/Ternopil/N11/2009, a fatal case from Ukraine, suggesting additional relationships which are not well represented in the existing database. These relationships may be obscure because of tissue specific expression, and mixtures which are impacted by cloning procedures.
However, the recent findings sequences encoding D225N and D225G, as well as wild type, in the same sample raises concerns that this diversity has paved the way for rapid and varied responses to immunological pressures which has already cause concerns due to the low reactor status of D225G when tested against anti-sera directed against the target of the killed vaccine.
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“Where the hell it got all these genes from we don’t know,” says Robert Webster, “But this is a real super-mixed up virus.”
Patient in Utah has swine flu virus with D225G, low reactor H1N1 mutation causing lung hemorrhaging
December 6, 6:11 PMLA Health Technology ExaminerVictoria Nicks
H1N1 vaccine ineffective against D225G mutation found in Utah
A sample from a Utah swine flu patient has been analyzed, and shows the same H1N1 mutation found in Ukraine and other locations around the world. This mutation of the pandemic A H1N1 swine flu virus, the receptor binding domain change of D225G, is associated with lung hemorrhaging and resistance to the swine flu vaccine.
H1N1 mutation: D225G
The H1N1 mutation that affects the receptor binding domain D225G causes the swine flu virus to attach to cells deep in the lungs. This can cause severe illness, including lung hemorrhaging. The D225G RBD has been found in cases of swine flu in Ukraine, Brazil, and other locations around the world. Symptoms of bleeding in the lungs have been identified here in the United States.
It’s possible that more cases exist, but the type of sample taken during testing may limit the number of cases identified. Swine flu samples are typically taken with a swab of the inside of the nasal passage, while the D225G strain would be found in lung tissue. The severity of H1N1 Influenza infections in Ukraine has been closely linked to the D225G RBD change, as well.
H275Y H1N1 influenza virus mutation
The H275Y H1N1 mutation causes the virus to be resistant to the antiviral medication Tamiflu. Currently, the H1N1 infections that are Tamiflu-resistant still respond to Relenza, another antiviral drug used to treat swine flu in the U.S. This mutation has been found in clusters in Maryland, North Carolina, and Wales, and in individual cases all over the world. In France, a combination of the H275Y mutation and the D225G mutation were found in a fatal case of the swine flu.
Reference:
Recombinomics