The CDC reported they discovered a new strain of influenza virus in Guatemalan fruit bats. According to the CDC, the virus doesn’t appear to be a threat to humans, but is currently under investigation as a potential source for human influenza.
In the movie “Contagion,” a deadly virus spreads across the globe killing millions of people in only a short period of time. After several months of investigation, it was finally discovered that the virus had been created by crossing a diseased bat with a diseased pig to obtain the viral strain of an unknown illness. The movie follows a group of epidemiologists from the CDC and state health departments to identify the source and search for a vaccine. Could something like this actually occur?
Since the release of the movie, the CDC has issued several position papers that outline the reality of such a pandemic. The CDC Foundation, a nonprofit organization working with the CDC on public health awareness, stated, “Serious, deadly contagious disease outbreaks can and do happen. CDC investigates new contagious diseases—averaging one new contagion per year. These new contagious diseases can emerge right here or only a plane-ride away from here.” Remember H1N1? The disease was discovered, investigated and researched to halt the pandemic in 2009. Thus, based on the CDC research and statement, what happened in “Contagion” could actually occur.
While it may be important to know that these pandemics can actually happen, it may be more crucial to understand how prepared our nation is to handle such events. As portrayed in the movie, the CDC would take a lead role in the investigation of the disease and would provide technical assistance to cities, states or international entities who are dealing with an outbreak. According to the CDC Foundation, “CDC’s primary goals would be to determine the cause of illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and prevent further cases, and how people can best be treated.” This is exactly what was portrayed by the actors in “Contagion.”
The CDC believes it is fully prepared for a pandemic. Its researchers and epidemiologists have been in place worldwide and they continuously monitor diseases across the globe. The latter is how the new bat flu virus was discovered. According to Dr. Suxiang Tong, team lead of the Pathogen Discovery Program in CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, “This is the first time an influenza virus has been identified in bats.”
While research has found that for bat influenza virus to infect humans, it would have to obtain some genetic properties of human influenza viruses. This can occur in nature through a process called reassortment, which occurs when two or more influenza viruses infect a single host cell, which allows the viruses to swap genetic information. Preliminary CDC research on the new virus suggests that its genes are compatible with human influenza viruses
In the recent CDC report, Dr. Ruben Donis, chief of the Molecular Virology and Vaccines Branch in CDC’s Influenza Division said, “Fortunately, initial laboratory testing suggests the new virus would need to undergo significant changes to become capable of infecting and spreading easily among humans. A different animal – such as a pig, horse or dog –would need to be capable of being infected with both this new bat influenza virus and human influenza viruses for reassortment to occur.”
In “Contagion,” the reassortment took place between a bat and a pig – making the pandemic portrayed on the big screen even more viable.
Currently, bat influenza viruses are known only to infect little yellow-shouldered bats, which are common in Central and South America and are not native to the United States. CDC works with global disease experts to monitor influenza viruses that circulate in animals, which could affect humans and in essence cross over country boundaries.
For more information about CDC’s global disease detection and emergency response activities, please see www.cdc.gov.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). New influenza virus discovered in Guatemalan fruit bats. Retrieved March 1, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/p0227_Guatemala_Fruitbats.html.
CDC Foundation. (2011). How CDC saves lives by controlling real global disease outbreaks. Retrieved March 1, 2012 from http://www.cdcfoundation.org/content/how-cdc-saves-lives-controlling-real-global-disease-outbreaks.
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