U.S. CDC TO MAKE FLU VIRUS DATA AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released genetic blueprints for over 650 genes of influenza viruses into a database accessible to researchers worldwide.

Through a collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories, the CDC expects to provide genetic information for several hundred influenza viruses per year as a way to encourage more research on influenza. The sequence data will be available in nearly real time through Genbank, a public-access library for virus sequences managed by the NIH, and through an influenza database housed at Los Alamos National Laboratories. The information will include viruses from the annual flu season in the U.S., any animal influenza viruses that infect humans and any novel strains that may emerge such as avian influenza H5N1.

The sequence information, which is like a DNA fingerprint of each virus, allows researchers to determine more about a virus's origin and to compare it with other viruses. This will help scientist determine whether the virus is susceptible to antiviral drugs and, in the case of avian influenza, to assess whether it's changing in a way that might make the virus more easily transmissible. In addition, the sequences can be used to better identify the strains that should be included in the yearly flu vaccines.