May 11, 2009

UK scientists have produced the first genetic fingerprint of the AH1N1 virus in Europe, following a similar breakthrough in North America, officials said Friday (May 8).

The development, which opens the way to understanding how the virus infects people, can be compared with the genetic sequencing of the North American strain of the virus announced by Canadian experts Wednesday.

"This virus strain is the first building block in the development of an effective vaccine against AH1N1," said the Health Protection Agency, adding that it had shared the UK "isolate" of the virus with other institutes.

"This isolate will enable scientists to gather more information on the characteristics of the virus affecting humans in Europe and compare those with that in Mexico and the US," it said.

Wednesday, scientists at the Public Health Agency of Canada's microbiology lab in Winnipeg said they had cracked the genetic makeup of samples from Mexico and two Canadian provinces, she said.

Britain's HPA said the genomic sequence found here "will now be studied alongside other genetic information to give a greater understanding of how the virus behaves as it infects individuals.

"We are continuing to learn more and more each day about AH1N1," said Maria Zambon, head of the HPA's Centre for Infections.

"The pure sample of virus that we have isolated, together with its genetic fingerprint, will be important resources as scientific organizations join forces.