Comments on: What causes antigenic drift? http://www.iayork.com/MysteryRays/2009/12/02/1535/ Meddling with things mankind is not meant to understand. Also, pictures of my kids Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:16:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: iayork http://www.iayork.com/MysteryRays/2009/12/02/1535/comment-page-1/#comment-37153 iayork Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:57:40 +0000 http://www.iayork.com/MysteryRays/?p=1535#comment-37153 I'm not completely convinced by his model. His observations are compelling, and they aren't fully explained by (what I think is) the standard model, but I'm not sure that his explanation accounts for everything he saw either. I think that a "fully immune" person would be, well, fully immune, but there are presumably lots of edge cases, people who are weakly immune or immune to other strains or whatever. He was able to get replication and transmission through immunized mice. I agree that it's not practical to get high coverage with flu vaccine, even in the 1st world let alone in underdeveloped and developing countries where the flu hangs out. Still, if there is even a theoretical way of reducing antigenic drift it's worth spending some time thinking about. I’m not completely convinced by his model. His observations are compelling, and they aren’t fully explained by (what I think is) the standard model, but I’m not sure that his explanation accounts for everything he saw either.

I think that a “fully immune” person would be, well, fully immune, but there are presumably lots of edge cases, people who are weakly immune or immune to other strains or whatever. He was able to get replication and transmission through immunized mice.

I agree that it’s not practical to get high coverage with flu vaccine, even in the 1st world let alone in underdeveloped and developing countries where the flu hangs out. Still, if there is even a theoretical way of reducing antigenic drift it’s worth spending some time thinking about.

]]> By: Chris Upton http://www.iayork.com/MysteryRays/2009/12/02/1535/comment-page-1/#comment-37129 Chris Upton Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:10:01 +0000 http://www.iayork.com/MysteryRays/?p=1535#comment-37129 Interesting paper. Wish I knew more about flu. I think I get it, that there are multiple selection forces at work (NAb and receptor binding). I'm curious about how well flu infects an immunized individual (how often is the infection productive enough to be further transmitted?). Also does this depend on "totally naive" hosts (kids) or are adults who haven't seen flu for a few years equal in this case. I doubt any vaccination program can cover enough of the world's population to make a dent in the selection of vaccine escapees. Interesting paper.
Wish I knew more about flu.
I think I get it, that there are multiple selection forces at work (NAb and receptor binding).
I’m curious about how well flu infects an immunized individual (how often is the infection productive enough to be further transmitted?).
Also does this depend on “totally naive” hosts (kids) or are adults who haven’t seen flu for a few years equal in this case.
I doubt any vaccination program can cover enough of the world’s population to make a dent in the selection of vaccine escapees.

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