Can a flu virus survive in a cold country?

Can flu viruses survive for months or even years in frozen lakes? That is the assertion of a study conducted by US, Russian and Israeli scientists.

Dr. Scott Rogers (University of Washington) and colleagues discovered viral RNA in samples taken from three frozen and thawed lakes each year in Siberia, where migratory birds stop.

The researchers also found an RNA fragment of the virus that codes for hemagglutin production, a surface protein that allows the virus to attach to host cells. According to genetic analysis, this protein is close to an H1 flu virus that raged in the 1930s later in the 1960s.

These data, published in the Journal of Virology, confirm that flu viruses present in bird droppings in the spring can be stored in ice and surface when the ice melts. Further north, where the water freezes for many years, the virus is preserved for longer periods.

The rest is to find out that these are just fragments of RNA that still exist or that viruses still retain the ability to infect. This depends a lot on freezing conditions. Dr. Rogers and his colleagues are continuing to study and are currently interested in lakes in Alaska and Canada.

Power