Mapping a Virus: Swine Flu Traced to NC Farm

The News & Observer has an interesting piece on how H1N1, aka swine flu, and like viruses mutate and spread.

When examining the segments of the virus, scientists traced:

Two of the segments from Eurasia. The other six were traced to a 1998 North American pig outbreak, which included avian, swine and human flu.

Down into the story, is a note that the tracing of the virus to a Newton Grove, North Carolina pig farm is raising concerns about the dangers of factory farming, “where thousands of hogs are housed closely together and shipped among sites as they grow.”

Still, there’s nothing to point directly to factory farms for the H1N1 mutated strain.

But there could be a key regulatory measure that comes from this current outbreak: collection of genetic sequences.

The N&O quotes Nancy Cox, director of the influenza division at the CDC, who says “talks have already begun with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin collecting genetic sequences of swine flu found on farms in the future.”