The flu virus exhibits an extremely high mutation rate. This is attributed to the error prone machinery that replicates the virus genome. Even single replication errors are able to challenge the antigenic response of the human body. The mutated virus may have one or several proteins altered. Of particular importance in the antigenic response are the proteins on the surface of the virus. This encasement structure is known as capsid and serves as a container for the virus’ genetic material. It has been reported that important mutations occur in the capsid’s antigenic glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), which are conventionally recognized by the immune system. The mutations produce an incredible variety of proteins that can be combined to produce several new types of capsids. As a mutated virus enters the body, the immune is no longer capable of responding rapidly to it, which undoubtedly leads to infection. This rapid evolvability of the virus is further exacerbated by the tendency to incorporate genome fragments from strains that have used birds or pigs as hosts. It is evident that if one wants to protect from the virus infection, a flu shot is required every year. This is because the new vaccine induces resistance to newly discovered strains, which are most likely resulting from one or several mutations in the virus. Additionally, some infected patients have been mistakenly diagnosed with other conditions like asthma, pneumonia or even other non-specific viral infections. Even though protection to the flu is increased by receiving the shot, there is no guarantee that the vaccine is capable of inducing resistance to all new strains. This explains why some people claim to have received the shot and still experience flu-like symptoms. To prevent infection, I continuously wash my hands during the winter season, considering that the virus survives in such an environment quite easily. Additionally, I disinfect items like my computer keyboard, mouse and telephone as they are all exposed to continuous touching. Finally, I take steamy showers to maintain my respiratory system well hydrated as it has been demonstrated that the flu virus increases its infectivity in dry environments (Nobusawa & Sato, 2006).
References
Nobusawa, E., & Sato, K. (2006). Comparison of the mutation rates of human influenza A and B viruses. Journal of Virology, 80(7), 3675–3678. doi:10.1128/JVI.80.7.3675-3678.2006
