The 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus used a new biochemical trick to hijack host cells, a feat that triggered the recent pandemic, according to an international team of scientists.
“We have found why the pandemic H1N1 virus replicated so well in humans,” Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a leading influenza expert and a professor of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s School of Veterinary Medicine, said in a university news release.