The new swine flu virus that broke out in Mexico is unique and potentially dangerous in one way. It is a virus that has a combination of gene segments from human, bird and swine viruses, and can potentially become infectious in humans that have no immunity to the new strain.
Influenza viruses can change its make-up in one of two ways: Antigenic drift is a series of mutations that cause the virus to gradually evolve over time. Antigenic shift is an abrupt change in the surface antigen proteins that suddenly creates a new subtype of the virus. In the history of …read more