1917 avian influenza virus sequences suggest that the 1918 pandemic virus did not acquire its hemagglutinin directly from birds.
Wild waterfowl captured between 1915 and 1919 were tested for influenza A virus RNA. One bird, captured in 1917, was infected with a virus of the same hemagglutinin (HA) subtype as that of the 1918 pandemic virus. The 1917 HA is more closely related to that of modern avian viruses than it is to that of the pandemic virus, suggesting (i) that there was little drift in avian sequences over the past 85 years and (ii) that the 1918 pandemic virus did not acquire its HA directly from a bird.
Fanning
Thomas G
TG
Division of Molecular Pathology, Department of Cellular Pathology and Genetics, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rockville, Maryland 20850-3125, USA. fanning@afip.osd.mil
Slemons
Richard D
RD
Reid
Ann H
AH
Janczewski
Thomas A
TA
Dean
James
J
Taubenberger
Jeffery K
JK
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000266:history / Q000821:virology; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D012367:RNA, Viral