Deadly Chinese Swine Flu Linked to Genetic Clue; New Study

There's a reason why swine flu affects China more than other countries. British and Chinese scientists have found a genetic variant which explains why Chinese populations may be more vulnerable to the H1N1 virus.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that a variant known as rs12252-C was more common in the Chinese population than anywhere else. In addition, it found that if a person possesses this particular variant, it could increase the chances of severe infection by six times. Previous research was also able to show that this variant is linked to more severe flu infections in general.

This variant was chosen because it is 100 times more common in Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China. In contrast, it is only present in about one out of 3,000 people in Caucasian populations. Researchers conducting the study found that overall, it was present in 69 percent of Chinese patients with severe cases of swine flu in 2009. However, it was present in only 25 percent with milder forms of the infection.

The H1N1 swine flu took the world by storm in 2009 and 2010. Only last week, a study was published that estimated at least one in five people were infected. An estimated 200,000 people were killed in the first year of the outbreak.

This new study shows the importance of further understanding H1N1 to prevent further pandemics. In addition, it may answer the question as to why new influenza viruses often first appear in China and this region of the world. However, more research needs to be conducted to examine the gene variant's effect on flu severity in different populations.