Seasonal flu starts in Asia -- study

by jayr_patron | April 16, 2008 at 04:29 pm

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Next time you go down with that nasty flu--hopefully not the H5N1 strain--think about the thousands of kilometers those viruses (what ever happenedto 'virii'?) have traveled to get to your system.

Viruses that originate in East and Southeast Asia migrate around the world and "seed" outbreaks of the most common strains of the influenza virus A (H3N2), a study released Wednesday found.
"The ultimate goal of our collaboration is to increase our ability to predict the evolution of influenza viruses," Derek Smith of Britain's Cambridge University, told reporters in a press briefing by telephone.
"The study is one step along that path and in particular highlights the importance of ongoing collaborations and surveillance in East and Southeast Asia, and expanding these collaboration in the future," he added.