The 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic had killed more people than any other disease outbreak in history would have done. Comparing with the 1918 pandemic which have long been drawn ever since Covid-19 which began in December 2019. There is a study which is printed in Nature Communications which actually sheds light on the genome of the Influenza A H1N1 virus which was responsible for the outbreak of pandemic.

HIGHLIGHTS
The genomes had established an origin in birds but had certain drawbacks
IAV genome has showed a unique capability of gene reassortment
Viruses evolved much faster on phylogenetic trees than the alternative branches

Patrono et al. (2022) has combed through multiple museums in Europe for tissues that might yield RNA fragments of the H1N1 virus. Well, this is not really the first time that the virus’s genome has been sequenced from preserved tissues. On working separately, Xiao et al. (2013) and Taubenberger et al. (2019) were seen to reconstruct the complete Influenza A Virus (IAV) genomes from two people who lost their lives in New York (Sep 1918) and Alaska (Nov 1918) respectively. As a conclusion, these genomes had established an origin in birds but they too have certain drawbacks. Each of these genomes would belong to people who died in autumn 1918. It was the time of the second wave of the pandemic, and, therefore, it disclosed nothing about the mutations of the virus that would have gone through the first wave.

The IAV genome has showed a unique capability of gene reassortment. Well, the genome usually consists of eight genes, and in the event of a cell being infected by over one strain of a gene, the order of genome can be rearranged in which the genes seem by a method referred to as reassortment.

Patrono et al. (2022) had examined the phylogenetic trees of the virus, where they detected a long branch on that the virus evolved much faster than the alternative branches. The branch would correspond to un-sampled viruses which were transmitted amongst human populations between 1918 and 1930s.

When people focused on the geographical spread of the 1918 Influenza A virus, according to the study it was found that there was no geographic segregation between continents. For this, they once more examined the genetic variability within the HA sequences from samples in Europe and North America by going back to the pandemic period.

While Patrono et al. (2022) had asserted that advances in genetic sequencing have enabled the biologists to tell apart from lessons of previous pandemics and also to inform policy measures for the ongoing pandemics. They even highlighted towards the exorbitant cost to maintain the medical archives which means that the museums have been doing fast with the historically preserved tissues. In spite of technological advances, the scarcity of readable availability of medical archives which would carry historical pathogens would be a serious impediment to similar research that will take place in the future.