Abstract
Influenza virus continues to cause yearly seasonal epidemics worldwide and periodically pandemics. Although influenza virus infection and its epidemiology have been extensively studied, a new pandemic is likely. One of the reasons influenza virus causes epidemics is its ability to constantly antigenically transform through genetic diversification. However, host immune defense mechanisms also have the potential to evolve during short or longer periods of evolutionary time. In this mini-review, we describe the evolutionary procedures related with influenza viruses and their hosts, under the prism of a predator-prey relationship.
Highlights
Health disasters caused by influenza viruses are abundant in human history [1,2,3]
Seasonal epidemics may be severe with high morbidity and mortality [8]
Influenza viruses exhibit vast genetic variability sourced from three molecular mechanisms: mutation, genetic re-assortment, and genetic recombination
Summary
Health disasters caused by influenza viruses are abundant in human history [1,2,3]. The Spanish flu of 1918 is estimated to have claimed more than 50 million lives, a figure that was beyond the death toll of World War I [4, 5]. Many viral genomes can adapt on their hosts’ cellular environment while survivors of viral infections have probably special genetic characteristics that helped them remain alive. Both genomes change over time reminding us of the evolutionary race between predators and preys. Pandemics of influenza are due to these random and sudden viral mutations or transspecies transmissions Under this perspective, in this paper, we discuss about influenza viruses and the coevolution with the human genomes
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