Review

Ethnic differences in susceptibilities to A(H1N1) flu: An epidemic parameter indicating a weak viral virulence

C. L. Chen^1,2, L. Xiao¹, Y. P. Zhou⁴, Q. L. Wang³, J. Zhang¹ and K. Li³*

¹Clinical Molecular Diagnostic Center, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215004, Jiangsu, China.

²Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400030, China.

³Department of Pharmacology, Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.

⁴SNP Institute, University of South China, Henyang 421001, China.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: kaili34@yahoo.com. Tel: +86 512 68602425.

Fax: +86 512 68284303.

Accepted 21 December, 2009

   Abstract

The current A(H1N1) flu has showed sub-population dependent susceptibility and fatality as early as April and May of 2009 in its first wave of spreading. After the pandemic outbreak spreads globally for more than seven months, the subpopulation dependence of this flu, including ethnicity, age and gender selectivity, has been recognized by several research groups. This paper attempts to discussed how to identify ethnic selectivity from the released data by WHO relevant to this ongoing flu, review some recently published papers describing the presence of ethnic differences in susceptibilities to the H1N1 flu virus and further raised an argument that ethnic differences in susceptibilities to a virus might be a piece of evidence reflecting a weak virulence of that specific virus.

Key words: H1N1 flu, virulence, ethnic.