First Strain of (A) H1N1 Influenza Virus in Guangdong Successfully
Isolated and Cultured

With the confirmation of the first case of (A) H1N1 Influenza in Guangdong, a joint effort has been assumed by the Guangdong Provincial Health Department organized Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), No.8 People’s Hospital of Guangzhou and a team of experts from SYSU, in an attempt to isolate and culture the H1N1 strain

After 48 hours of labor, the isolation of the H1N1 strain taking place at the Institute of Tropical Diseases Prevention and Treatment of SYSU Zhongshan School of Medicine, a key lab of the State Education Ministry succeeded. By the midnight of May 20th, the separated strain had been verified by means of the standard testing of fluorescent quantitative PCR promulgated by WHO, influenza Hemagglutination testing and gene sequencing, and confirmed to be the virus of the current (A) H1N1 Influenza. The preliminary results of the gene sequencing indicated that the virus was much similar to the virus isolated in the United States and Sichuan, China, and that there was no variation in the gene loci related to sensitivity for Tamiflu, which suggested that it might still be sensitive to Tamiflu drugs.

The successful isolation of the virus and the establishment of its culturing system play key roles in our thorough understanding of the etiology law of the influenza, strategies for vaccine prevention and improvement of rapid screening and detecting methods, as well as the development of anti-influenza medications.

 

2009.5.22