• Question: Would it be possible for swine flu to create a super virus with bird flu? If so, what would this mean for people?

    Asked by emilygoatman to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi emilygoatman,
      The short answer is yes. Flu is a virus made up bits of RNA and what can happen when more than one virus infects a host (normally a pig as it happens) is that the bits that make up the virus get mixed together. This means that viruses are produced that are the same as the original for example swine flu or bird flu but then others get made which are a combination of the two. If this would be a super virus I don’t know and nor does anyone else. There are things about bird flu and swine flu which make them worse than other flu but I am not sure if together they would be even worse. As for what it means for people we don’t know, this is why there was such a lot of worry when swine flu first surfaced, they didn’t really know what was going to happen so that worried everyone. However, if there was a bad flu either made by combining these viruses or completely new they can treat and vaccinate very quickly and people will probably be ok. This is one of the reasons detection was so important so they know what is happening and can get on with sorting it out!
      Hope this helps
      Pam

    • Photo: Holly Shelton

      Holly Shelton answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      It is absolutly posible in fact that is how the pandemic flu we had in humans in 2009 came into existance. Flu has a segmented genome made up of 8 pieces of RNA and a bird flu infected a cell in a pig in North America somewhere (maybe in Mexico) and at the same time a swine flu infected the same cell. This means the virus now had 16 gene segemtns to choose from. It mixed them up a bit and one of the bird flu segments got into a swine flu virus creating a new virus that was then transmitted to a human. This virus then spread amongst humans and caused the 2009 flu pandemic. Flu scientists are always on the lookout for new flu viruses and there are loads out there as they may cause a problem in humans even if they are not harmful in birds. humans and birds are quite different so a virus in a bird cell might be harmless but in a human cell is quite harmful

      Hope that helps

      Holly

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi Emily,

      Yes, very possible. Pam and Holly give excellent answers to why. Viruses (and bacteria) can pick up DNA damage very easily – they contain enzymes, like human ones, which do the same job as in humans, but with significantly more error. These enzymes work on DNA, and essentially force frequent mutations. The reason we get colds all the time is because the virus (if it is virual..) changes itself so much that our immune system cannot recognise it the next time!

      It’s more likely however that the two flu, bird and swine, might share certain elements, but not ‘combine’ in the classical sense.

      I hope this helps 🙂

      Daz

    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi Emilygoatman,

      I don’t think i’ve much to add here, Pam, Holly and Daz have given great answers! I think that if these two viruses were to ‘combine’ I would think they wouldn’t be ‘doubly’ deadly! It’s likely that the next nasty virus to circulate will be a virus that is normally not very deadly but then gets a little mutation that allows it to infect more people and perhaps kill more people!

      I hope we’ve managed to answer your question, but if you’ve anything further to ask please comment below 😀

      Cat

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