Swine flu deaths in South Africa = 31; World = 3,559 [Worldwide reported infections = 337,197]

The seasonal strains only locked onto the kind of receptors found in the upper respiratory track.

But the swine flu virus was also able to latch onto receptors found inside the lungs, although more weakly. The adhesion results in a more severe lung infection.

Professor Feizi said: “If the flu virus mutates in the future, it may attach to the receptors deep inside the lungs more strongly, and this could mean that more people would experience severe symptoms. We think scientists should be on the lookout for these kinds of changes in the virus so we can try to find ways to minimise the impact.”

But how severe the outbreak is will depend largely on how many people have already had the illness, Professor Beddington added. “It’s difficult to estimate the number of unreported cases,” he said.

SHOOT: The severity of the next wave is proportional, largely, to one factor - how extensively the virus is distributed. The greater the volume the greater the probability of both mutation and further infection and evolution of this virus. And the trend supports that increased severity must be increasingly probable.

clipped from www.news24.com Johannesburg - Thirty one people have died of swine flu while more than 7 000 laboratory confirmed swine flu cases have been recorded in South Africa, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said on Tuesday. In a statement, NICD said the latest figures were as of Monday, September 7 and that Gauteng remained the province with the highest number of H1N1 laboratory-confirmed cases. clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Swine flu can infect cells deeper in the lungs than seasonal flu, making people who catch it more likely to develop serious complications, research suggests. Seasonal strains of flu attach themselves almost exclusively to cells found in the nose, throat and upper airway, producing some of influenza’s signature symptoms: a runny nose, scratchy throat and a dry cough. But the new research shows that swine flu — by sticking to a greater range of receptors — can also breach cells deep in the lungs.