A/H1N1 Influenza virus, which has already stricken down 61 people and nearly six thousand people have been taken ill can have a laboratorial origin. Adrian Gibbs, an Australian scientist who studies the virus genome, has come to this conclusion. His point of view is corroborated by a strong strain mutation which is impossible under time in nature. On Thursday Belgium joined the list of the countries where A/H1N1 was registered.
The escape of influenza A/H1N1 virus from the laboratory is one of the most probable causes of its spread on the territory of North America, according to Adrian Gibbs, the virologist from Canberra State University.
“The assumption that the virus has been evolved in vitro as a result of an unintentional mistake of the staff is the simplest explanation”.
According to the researcher, the version of the laboratorial origin of the influenza virus is corroborated by the evident differences of its genomes from those of renowned Swine influenza viruses circulating in nature. According to the results of the research work conducted, the number of the mutations revealed in new A/H1N1 virus is three-four times over than that of similar strains.
“To collect such a great number of genetic differences the virus should have been circulated in nature for some years, though till this April it hasn’t been met by virologists, Adrian Gibbs said. – So the assumption that the new virus has been evolved in vitro in some virology laboratory as a result of a unintentional mistake of the staff is the simplest explanation to this”.
According to the scientist, he is now editing some new material about possible origin of A/H1N1 influenza virus and is sure that it’ll provoke vigorous debate in the scientific community as other existing hypothesis did.
“The quicker we sort out the question, the earlier we can protect the humankind against the pandemic”, the 
researcher from the southern hemisphere pointed out.
At the same time in the northern hemisphere, according to the data presented by the WHO, among the six countries – the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization only in Russia and Сhina it is possible to make the right diagnosis about the presence of influenza A/H1N1 in the samples of sick men, the BBC reports to quote the GM of State Centre of Virology and biotechnology James Brown.
“Unfortunately, today the WHO is proclaiming only two states of the six members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – China and Russia. These two states are acknowledged today to be able to perform the proper analysis to find out H1N1 influenza in the samples of sick men and people who died of flu”, Brown says.
According to him, it’s principally important for Russia that other countries, the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, could do this.
“It’s generally known that is maintaining the projects on the official qualifying of the leading laboratories of the world on their readiness to make the right diagnosis, on their readiness to prognosticate the course of epidemic in separate national states. It is principally important for us that all the countries of the region succeed in this”, the scientist say.
AH1N1 protection
On Thursday Belgium joined the blackhole list of the countries where sick men having Swine influenza were registered, and the authorities of the country affirmed the first case of А/H1N1 infection, Reuters reports.
As of Wednesday the WHO admitted 5,728 cases of A/H1N1infection in 33 states, including 61 cases with lethal outcome.
Thus, in Mexico 56 cases with lethal outcome are confirmed, three cases in the USA, one in Canada and one in Costa Rica. The cases of disease are confirmed in Argentina, Australia, Brasil, China, Columbia, Denmark, Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Great Britain.
