挪威在H1N1死亡病人中发现H1N1病毒突变

      昨天挪威卫生部门对媒体声称他们在2例死亡病例和1例中重症H1N1病人中发现H1N1病毒发生显著变异，这种突变可以使病毒变得更加“凶狠”，侵入到病人呼吸系统的深部，导致严重病变，甚至致命。

     病毒变异其实是一种常见现象，如流感病毒，几乎每一波流感都有或多或少的变异，所以这也就是流感病毒疫苗作用有限的原因。毕竟，疫苗的研发总是滞后于疾病的流行之后，且研发需要时间，等安全的疫苗经过一道道关卡面试后，病毒可能已经变异了，疫苗可能也就没有多大用了。

    H1N1病毒的变异，其实是科学家们一直担心的问题，担心其一旦变异，毒力发生变化，从而不可收拾。挪威的发现，证实了科学家的担心，好在到目前为止，H1N1似乎还基本还中规中矩，挪威的突变也似乎是“偶发的”，也尚不知道这种突变病毒能否在人群中传播，期待更多的深入研究。

     有媒体称在国内也发现了H1N1病毒变异，但似乎未见国内提及。

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Norway says found H1N1 mutation in flu fatalities

* 3 H1N1 cases found with potentially significant mutation * Two cases found among first fatalities in Norway

* Says mutation 'spontaneous', could cause serious disease

OSLO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Norwegian health authorities said on Friday they have discovered a potentially significant mutation in the H1N1 influenza strain that could be responsible for causing the severest symptoms among those infected.

"The mutation could be affecting the virus' ability to go deeper into the respiratory system, thus causing more serious illness," the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in a statement.

Authorities added they had no reason to believe the mutation had any implication for the effect of flu vaccines or antiviral drugs made by groups such as Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis or AstraZeneca.

H1N1, a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses, has killed more than 7,000 people globally.

In Norway the mutation was found in the bodies of two people killed by the virus and of one person made seriously ill.

The two people infected by the mutated virus were among the first fatalities from the H1N1 pandemic in Norway, the institute said.

It was unclear whether the mutated virus was transmitted among humans, the health authorities said.

"Based on what we know so far, it doesn't seem like the mutated virus is circulating in the population, but rather that spontaneous changes have happened in the three patients," director Geir Stene Larsen at the public health institute said in the statement.

In some later fatalities linked to H1N1 that were studied, the same mutation was not found. It had found other mutations in some other cases, but the mutations found in two of the first fatalities and one seriously ill patient had been of "particular interest", it said.

Norway has seen relatively more fatalities in the flu pandemic compared to the size of the population versus other European countries, with 23 confirmed deaths.

Public health authorities have said this could be due to the country being hit early in the pandemic's northern hemisphere winter wave, before a mass vaccination programme got underway.

"Nevertheless, it is important to study if there's still something about the Norwegian fatalities that separate us from other countries, and that make us learn something that strengthens our treatment of the seriously ill," director Bjorn-Inge Larsen at the Norwegian Directorate of Health said. (Reporting by Richard Solem; Editing by Matthew Jones)