Flu Risk Linked To Birth Year: Study

April 16, 2023 11:15 am4 commentsViews: 130

In a new study it is found one may be at higher risk of certain flu infections compared to others and this may be linked to the birth year.

flu-risk-linked-to-birth-year-study

Details of the study are published in the Science journal on Thursday and it reveals if during childhood one is exposed to certain flu strain, the first exposure for the person could have resulted in long-term protection against such kind of flu viruses.

Co-author of the study, Michael Worobey, said until now it was believed history of flu exposure didn’t offer protection against new influenza viruses which have migrated from animals.

Worobey is also a professor and head of the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of Arizona.

He said, “But as far as the data tell us, there is something kind of magical about the first time you have an influenza A response. It does seem to lock you into this imprinted immunity that you can benefit from.”

Influenza A viruses have been segregated in two groups. The first group has subtypes H1, H2 and H5 and the second group has H3 and H7. Across the world between 1918 and 2015 only the H1, H2 and H3 subtypes have circulated.

Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, James Lloyd-Smith, said analysis on H5 and H7 viruses have been done as these have causes lots of flu cases.

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