New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report claiming that the swine flu virus in India may have mutated and become severely infectious needs to be studied thoroughly before being accepted, Indian health experts said on Thursday.
"This is a new study. We need to go through it and research properly. It is important to know how they reached the conclusion. It will take at least one-to-two days' time to go through the study, only then I can comment on it," S.K. Sharma, director, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) told IANS.
The study by a team of Indian-origin scientists at the US university says that swine flu has killed over 1,500 people and infected more than 27,000 people in India and the virus has acquired mutations that make it more dangerous than previously circulating strains of H1N1 influenza.
The findings, reported in the scientific journal Cell Host and Microbe, contradict previous reports from Indian health officials that the strain has not changed from the version of H1N1 that emerged in 2009 and has been circulating around the world ever since.
Mutation is a permanent change of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extra-chromosomal DNA or other genetic elements.
N.K. Mehra, former dean, research, at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) said it was important to study the MIT report before coming to any conclusion. "It will be too early to comment now without going through the report properly," he said.
A senior official of the health ministry also said that the issue will be discussed with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) before coming to any conclusion.
The flu virus in India seems to have acquired mutations that could spread more readily, the scientist have warned in the study.
Announcement: Makers of 'KGF 2' announce the new film, join hands with this famous director
Well-known director Sudha Kongara of South industry blockbuster 'Soorarai Pottru' and 'Humble Fil
RIMS student Surabhi Kumari (MBBS 2023 batch), arrested by the CBI in the NEET paper leak case, w
5 big things to know before buying Oneplus 8 smartphone, compete with Xiaomi
New Delhi: Oneplus 8 is very much in discussion these days. The company has designed this phone k
Members of the Muslim community in Nagpur have condemned the violence in Vidarbha's largest city.
Anti-hijab girls in Iran have waged a war of words against the dictatorial government. Many anti-
Mukul Roy, who is angry about his stature in the BJP, has finally decided to return to the Trinam
New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) It will be a sunny Tuesday in the national capital and the maximum t
The uproar over the new Waqf law is increasing across the country. The politics of allegations an
You must have seen sports happening in the stadium most of the time but in Pakistan, it is being
Maharashtra government has extended the lockdown till 7 am on June 1. With this, negative RT-PCR
