Vaccine Still Effective Despite Swine Flu Mutation
There have been cases of swine flu being resistant to Tamiflu, which indicated that the virus may be mutating. This has warranted investigations and is undeniably fueling concerns among people.
Despite this, though, health experts in Europe and North America reportedly gave the assurance that swine flu vaccines in their current form are still effective towards protecting one’s self against swine flu.
According to experts, which included Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, the fact that the H1N1 virus mutated did not come as a surprise. On the contrary, it was a phenomenon that they had already foreseen and expected. Neither will this be the only time that the virus will mutate, the experts also said.
Schuchat also said that the discovery of the mutation does not have an impact on the effectiveness of the vaccine against swine flu, as well as anti-virals.
The World Health Organization stressed that while a mutation of the virus has been discovered, it “did not appear to cause a more contagious or more dangerous form” of the swine flu virus.
Mutation is not new, as similar cases of mutations have already been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine and the United States as far back as April this year, when the virus and the flu first came to media and global attention.
Didier Houssin, France’s health chief, also confirmed through a radio interview that “the ability of the vaccine to induce an immune reaction is not affected by the mutation,” which indicates that the vaccines will still be effective. There are also vaccines that have been manufactured with the possibility of mutations already taken into consideration; there are vaccines that have additives that “expands the range of effectiveness” of the vaccine in terms of being able to react against a slightly modified virus.
That does not mean, though, that scientists and researchers are resting on their laurels. They are still very much concerned about the possibility that a mutation into a more virulent form of the virus will occur, and studies are being conducted to prepare for that possibility.
Tags: H1N1 mutation flu virus mutation, swine flu mutation, tamiflu resistant swine flu
