There have been several cases of mutations in H1N1 that are of concern but so far these mutations haven’t seemed to become the norm. That possibility, however, has virologists keeping an eye out for mutations that have “clinical significance,” according to Homeland Security Today:

Virologists and influenza authorities are becoming increasingly concerned that the 2009 A-H1N1 flu virus could “reassort” with the highly virulent H5N1 avian flu that’s still prevalent in parts of the world like China, and that a mutation could occur resulting in a new strain that has the lethality of H5N1 and the human transmissibility of A-H1N1.

The concerns have grown in the wake of revelations that mutations of the H1N1 flu virus had been found in Norway and elsewhere, leading experts to fear that it might just be a matter of time before there’s a reassortment of H1N1 and H5N1.

This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported very high pandemic activity in Italy, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation (Urals region), and Sweden.

Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine also reported high pandemic activity.

Meanwhile, authorities said they believe the peak of the A-H1N1 pandemic’s second wave hasn’t  yet been reached in some parts of the world.

WHO said it’s keeping a “very careful” eye on the reported mutations in order to ascertain whether it is causing more severe illness diseases than the A-H1N1 virus.

“We really need to look at this very carefully to see whether it is in fact associated with severe cases,” WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham told reporters. He said investigations by WHO’s collaborating network of labs will be able to provide a better “understanding … about clinical features associated with the infection of this particular form of the virus.”

Of particular concern is the prospect of the virulent H1N1 combining with the high fatality H5N1 “Avian flu” and creating a super bug that would spread like wildfire and have a mortality rate too high for civilization to handle:

WHO warned that the H5N1 virus has emerged in poultry in Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam just as the H1N1 pandemic influenza continues its rampage across the world.

Not only does this place “those in direct contact with birds – usually rural folk and farm workers – at risk of catching the often-fatal disease,” but “the virus could undergo a process of ‘reassortment’ with another influenza virus and produce a completely new strain,” WHO stated.

“The most obvious risk is of H5N1 combining with the pandemic … [H1N1] virus, producing a flu virus that is as deadly as the former and as contagious as the latter.”

That the two flu strain could merge, reassert, and produce a new hybrid influenza strain combining the worst elements of each of the viruses is a possibility that authorities have been worrying about ever since the spread of the A-H1N1 virus increased to pandemic level.

“We don’t know if this is possible, but we are certainly aware of the risk,” Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific,” told The Philippine Star. “We are on alert for this development.”

“Influenza viruses are unpredictable. In areas where [A-H1N1] is endemic, we and our partners and national governments are working to build surveillance systems to identify changes in the behavior of the virus,” Shin said. “We are also focusing on early-response capacity to reduce the potential threats to human health.”

Virologists told HSToday.us that “it’s very possible that the two flu strains could combine – this reassortment that we talk about – that could result in a mix of the two,” as one explained. “Of course, what we are concerned about is a mutation that contains the worst characteristics of the two viruses.

Read the rest. It might be … TEOTWAWKI!!!!!!

h/t N.T.A.