Comments about ‘Utah woman had mutated version of swine flu virus’

NOW we're all going to die. First it was West Nile, then sars, then then swine flu, and now it is the mutated strain of swine flu. May Heaven have mercy on our souls.

I'd like to know if the woman in question was vaccinated, or if the virus mutated spontaneously on it's own. If she had been vaccinated then the virus "responded to it's environment" as a result of the vaccination.

You're right, we are all going to die! Thanks for your humoristic sarcasm!

"This patient is not (a) new case. … We know it was likely a couple of months ago,"
Given the timing of her illness, with respect to the availability of the vaccine, it is very unlikely that she had been vaccinated. Even if she had, one couldn't conclude that "the virus responded to it's environment as a result of the vaccination." The vaccine triggers the same immune response that a person undergoes when infected. The vaccine just gives your body a head start on the vaccine.

As to "OH GREAT!!!" the article had numerous quotes that this mutation wasn't a cause for concern, just an interesting part of the overall H1N1 story. Your reaction is like getting mad if Chicken Little had gone around saying that she was hit on the head by a walnut.

He said it was a mutation in the "haemagglutinin" gene... May want to check your spelling and probably bone up on something a little higher than high school biology before taking on specifics of science... Good job

One more mutation and we'll be turning into zombies. Better stock up on cricket bats and shotguns.

Mr. CC3 apparently doesn't understand how vaccines work. A vaccine is not the same as an antibiotic or other drug. A vaccine is not a chemical treatment for a disease. Rather, a vaccine is a killed or weakened version of the actual virus. The virus is introduced to your body in a weakened (or dead) state, allowing your body to react to the virus as it would an actual infection, but easily defeat the infection. Having then manufactured the appropriate antibody for that infection, your body is able to easily react and defeat a "real" infection.

Where viruses and bacteria do occasionally become resistant to chemical drug treatments, they only become resistant to your body's natural defenses (including those prompted by vaccines) through the natural process of mutation.