In this article about Swine Flu, I learned a lot.
Most of us think that Swine Flu just came out of nowhere are that we are at a
great risk of getting it. The pandemic in 1918 was about Swine Flu, and many
scientist blame pigs for causing millions of deaths during that time. Now, according
to researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Edinburgh on
the 16th-18th of February 2014, they say that the whole
cause of it was from birds. The researches stated that the systems they have used
for years to figure out the gene sequences of the virus and disease are flawed.
Worobey (one of the researchers) and his colleagues conducted a tree diagram
with 80,000 influenza viral genome sequences. The tree diagram has samples from
bats, pigs, birds, cows and humans. The
phylogenetic analysis showed that most of the genetic elements found in the
strands from the 1918 outbreak possibly came from the North American Avian
Influenza virus, carried by either domestic or wild birds. One thing about the
Swine Flu virus now, H3N2v that began in 2011, is that the v means it is
variant that only infects pigs, but still has a way of infecting humans. So be
safe!
The main idea comes across very smooth and there was
nothing confusing about the text. My only question I would say is that how
could they barley find out that their methods are flawed? I think Logos are
most present here, because they used fact to back up everything stated and they
also test weather their findings were try or not. This seemed very unbiased
because they didn’t target just birds themselves, they tested other animals for
the virus as well.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39189/title/Not-Swine-Flu/
http://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/article.htm
It does seem pretty incredible that they just discovered this about the swine flu. It makes me wonder what had them believe it came from only pigs in the first place. A lot of viruses come from birds, so that doesn't surprise me. The fact that there is a particular strain that pigs can contract, is interesting. It makes me wonder what other animals can contract this. Can other mammals, or even reptiles or aquatic animals contract this? Does this pose more of a threat to the animals, or to us? I'm sure that there is more to be discovered about this virus, that could aid us in preventing it more. I'm curious to see what researchers find on this in the future years to come.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. If birds were actually responsible for the swine flu outbreak, then the pigs just got a bad rep from it all. The fact that the system used to figure out gene sequences is flawed surprised me because how could have researchers have been using a flawed system. Does this also mean that other sequenced genes have been wrong as well or was it just this for the swine flu pandemic? In the article is also states that it the Spanish flu could have possible came from the North American avian influenza virus, which was interesting to learn because from all the research I did for my children’s book I read that it came from soldiers from a camp in Kansas. Also like you my only question is that how come they barley find out that their methods are flawed? Also they the researches should sequence other virus’s genes to see if they were wrong too because of the flawed system.
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