We have a swine flu pandemic, and the burning question for everyone, especially those with young children, is to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
So what is this pandemic swine flu? It is caused by a completely new H1N1 flu virus that has a combination of genes from bird, human and swine flu viruses from North America and Eurasia [1] that appeared suddenly out of nowhere (see Fig. 1).
The flu virus is very complicated. It is a RNA virus with 8 gene segments and different strains can exchange gene segments by a process called reassortment. This is also why flu virus can change much faster than other viruses with only one continuous genome. The history of reassortment events can be reconstructed by comparing the base sequences of different strains. The 2009 pandemic strain involves intermediate steps that are not so easy to go undetected, given that there is routine surveillance of flu strains and quarantine on live animals moving between countries, let alone continents.
Some people are convinced the virus has been created in the lab as a conspiracy to depopulate the planet. Some blame the intensive livestock industry [3], which indeed could have contributed. The most plausible theory so far, is perhaps one due to virologist Adrian Gibbs, that it came from a faulty 'multivalent' vaccine containing several viruses created in the lab and given to pigs in America [4] (Swine Flu Virus Created from Pig Vaccine? SiS 44).
More at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/swineFluVaccination.php