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Influenza A (H1N1) 2009: To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Al-Jabri, Ali A. Hasson, Sidgi Syed Anwer |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | Beginning in march 2009, an outbreak of influenza in North America was found to be caused by a new strain of influenza virus, designated Influenza A (H1N1) 2009, which is a reassortant of swine, avian and human influenza viruses.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 to be a pandemic predicting that a third of the world’s population would eventually be infected.2 In order to come to grips with such a dire situation, vaccines are being tried in various parts of the world. This article highlights the pros and cons of using vaccine for a disease that is akin to seasonal influenza. Influenza virus is an enveloped virus, of the Orthomyxoviridae family, which has a unique capacity for changing its genetic material continuously, based on genetic variation and molecular features that are inherited from the virus family.1 The surface proteins of the virus are highly variable due to genetic mutations which lead to changes in up to 50% of the amino acid with the continuous ability to cause infection. The viral genome is segmented, with eight segments of its RNA molecules. When infection is caused by several different influenza genotypes, such segments can be randomly re-assorted resulting in hybrid genotypes with some segments derived from one virus strain, whereas, the others are derived from a second strain.3 Over a thousand cases of Influenza A (H1N1) were identified in the first month, mainly in the United States of America (USA) and Mexico; thereafter thousands of cases were identified and reported all over the world. Appropriate actions concerning Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 need to be made based on facts discovered by scientists; however, these actions should not to be affected by political, legal, financial or any other interests.4 Every influenza outbreak, or pandemic, is unique and therefore its features have to be carefully studied and evaluated before making any actions and/or recommendations. However, pandemic preparedness for some microorganisms may have to anticipate potential pandemic characteristics even before they develop in order to take pro-active actions and make pro-active recommendations. Generally speaking, to protect individuals from a particular disease immunisation is essential. Immunisation can be active (vaccination) or passive, natural or artificial. An unintentional (i.e. natural) immunisation can also happen when an individual is inadvertently exposed to an infectious agent. Through vaccination, individuals receive a modified antigen that may consist of attenuated or killed organisms, subcellular components or detoxified toxins that trigger an immune response. The outcome of vaccination is that a subsequent exposure to the unmodified antigen will lead to rapid activation of the immune system to eliminate that pathogen before it can cause disease. Unfortunately, no vaccination is without risk. This was certainly evident with the swine influenza epidemic which occurred in 1976, when there was a rush to protect individuals who were at risk (especially infants and the elderly). Neurological complications such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and others were observed to arise from the vaccine.5 This has therefore caused an alert and raised a serious concerns about the safety and efficacy of receiving the H1N1 vaccine against the current Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| PubMed reference number | 21509303 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 9 |
| Issue Number | 3 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://journals.squ.edu.om/index.php/squmj/article/download/1433/1387 |
| Journal | Sultan Qaboos University medical journal |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
