virusclassification.com

Although it is frequently mistaken as the common flu, influenza can take many forms but all influenza virus classification falls into three main groups: influenza A, influenza B, and influenza C. Influenza A is the most dangerous form of the virus, with the ability to mutate its genetic code 2-3 times faster than all other forms. Two viral surface proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, are used in classification to identify the 144 possible subtypes of an influenza A virus. Influenza B is still dangerous to humans but has not been responsible for the mass epidemics in the same manner that influenza A has. It does have the ability to mutate, but does so at a much slower rate. Influenza C is the last type of influenza virus. It is not common and has the slowest mutation rate.

The only influenza virus that has been known to cause major pandemics is type A. It was responsible for the Spanish flu outbreak, commonly known as la grippe, which occurred in 1918 and is also the cause of the modern H1N1, or swine flu, pandemic. The 1918 pandemic is thought to have been the cause of somewhere between 20 and 100 million people and featured an infection rate of nearly 50%. As the deadliness of this subtype has been proven, it is for this exact reason that the H1N1 influenza virus is being watched so closely. While the number of deaths resulting from the current H1N1 pandemic have come nowhere close to the numbers of the 1918 outbreak, it is still a cause for concern. Endemic in hogs and pigs, the virus does not always result in human influenza when it is transferred from swine to humans. A common misconception is that eating pork can cause transmission of the virus. If cooked properly, the meat has no risk of transmitting the virus. The classification of the specific H1N1 virus includes genetic data from the following four separate influenza viruses: North American swine flu, Asian and European swine flu, human influenza, and North American avian influenza. The virus has been declared a national emergency in the United States and the World Health Organization officially classified the virus as a pandemic in June of 2009. Since that time, 208 countries have reported confirmed cases of patients with the H1N1 virus. To date, there have been 13,554 deaths resulting from this particular strain.

While an influenza virus will commonly cause flu-like symptoms, most strains of the virus are not life-threatening. However, the evolution of the genetic makeup has made these viruses more resistant to traditional remedies and potentially more dangerous to humans. With the influenza virus classification of H1N1, the modern strain has proven its ability to cause a pandemic and it is still uncertain what the final outcome will be.