INFLUENZA PANDEMIC (H1N1) 2009 (16): ARGENTINA, SEQUENCING

INFLUENZA PANDEMIC (H1N1) 2009 (16): ARGENTINA, SEQUENCING
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date Wed 22 Jul 2009
From: Gustavo Palacios

A team of scientists from the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades
Infecciosas (INEI) [National Institute of Infectious Diseases], "Dr
Carlos G Malbran" ANLIS [National Administration of Laboratories and
Health Institutes]; the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia
University; and Roche 454 Life Sciences is decoding the complete
genomic sequences of influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus isolates
from patients with severe respiratory disease from the current
outbreak in Argentina.

The announcement came as the worldwide death toll from A (H1N1)
gathered pace, with Argentina logging 165 fatalities -- the 2nd
highest number of swine flu deaths after the United States. Sanger
and pyrosequencing of samples from 2 patients with severe disease
revealed 8 amino acid substitutions with respect to isolates obtained
in other geographic sites. No evidence was found to indicate
emergence of resistance to oseltamivir.

The team plans to completely sequence a minimum of 150 viruses from
nasopharyngeal swabs and cultures over the next 7-10 days. These will
be rapidly shared to engage the efforts and insights of the larger
scientific community.

Both INEI and the Center for Infection and Immunity are members of
the laboratory network of the World Health Organization and the Pan
American Health Organization. Quintiles Transnational Corp is
coordinating sample shipments. Roche Life Sciences is contributing
pyrosequence data. The team is led by Elsa Baumeister at INEI with
support from Daniel Cisterna and Viviana Molina at INEI, Ian Lipkin
and Gustavo Palacios at Columbia, and Michael Egholm and Stephen
Hutchison at Roche 454 Life Sciences.