Skip to main content

Antigenic Drift In Influenza Virus Infection


The influenza virus is a single-stranded RNA virus, bound by a nucleoprotein.
This nucleoprotein determines the type of the virus whether it is virus type A, B or C.
The spherical surface of the virus is a lipid bilayer containing the viral antigens. The viral antigens are "hemagglutinin and "neuraminidase". These two antigens determine the subtype of virus that is H1N1, H3N2 etc.(H stands for Hemagglutinin and N stands for Neuraminidase).
When an individual gets an infection of Influenza virus, antibodies are formed against the neuraminidase and hemagglutinin antigens, which prevent future infections with the same subtype of influenza virus.

But recurrent infection occurs through mutations of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase antigens that allow the virus to escape from the host antibodies, this phenomenon is called antigenic drift.


Visit Home Page

Popular posts from this blog

IELTS or OET - Reviews - Personal Experience - Which to Choose - IETLS vs OET

OET and IELTS both are used to assess the knowledge of English Language. The basic difference between the above two is this, IETLS is a more generalized English language assessment test, on the other hand, OET is profession specific. For example, if you are a doctor, the content of the test will be related to your occupation. Because of this, the OET is being chosen by many healthcare professional instead of IELTS. Both tests have the same sub-categories, that is listening, speaking, writing and reading. Lets us discuss the differences one by one. TEST OET IELTS OET Compared to IELTS is ………. (Author’s opinion) Speaking You will need to do two role plays. You will be given a situation and asked to counsel the patient about a disease and treatment or break the bad news. It has 3 parts, first is an introduction and general question, In the second part you will be provided with a topic to speak for 2 minutes. In the 3rd part, you will b...

MTI program Royal College of Physicians UK for International Doctors

  MTI (Mutual Training Initiative) is a program which is sponsored by the Royal College of Physicians UK (all three colleges), you can work in the UK for a period of up to two years.  It has the following requirements; 1. You should have MRCP part 1 passed (minimum requirement) 2. You must have got the required score in the IELTS or OET           a. For IELTS the required score is minimum 7.0 in all subcategories (reading, listening, writing and speaking) and an overall score of 7.5.           b. For OET the required score is grade B in all subcategories.  3. You must appear in an interview conducted by the Royal College of Physicians in your country and selected for the post OR you find a Job in the UK directly and inform Royal College of Physicians (London) that you have got the job by yourself and now you need RCP sponsorship for GMC registration.  You do not need to pass PLAB or MRCP (all parts) to get t...