[Influenza: interspecies transmissions and viral rearrangement]

Influenza is an infection of humans beings and many animal species. It is caused by viruses which belong to the Orthomyxoviridae family. There are three types of influenza viruses A, B and C. The type A is the most pathogenic of all. The type is determined mainly by the nature of the nucleoprotein (NP), an antigen which does not greatly vary. On the contrary, the surface antigens, among which the haemagglutinin is the most important, are highly variable and their nature determines the sub-type of virus within the type A. The expressed mutations affecting the haemagglutinin are referred as antigenic drift and make virological surveillance necessary in order to annually assess the composition of the vaccine strains. The segmented nature of the genome of influenza viruses, makes possible the genetic reassortment of two different influenza viruses co-infecting one cell and produces a new hybrid virus. When such an event affects the haemagglutinin, the reassortment leads to an antigenic shift. In nature, it most certainly takes place in swine, between human and avian viruses. Whereas antigenic drift is a continuous and progressive phenomenon, antigenic shift occurs occasionally every 10 to 30 years. The emergence of a hybrid virus bearing a new haemagglutinin and thus belonging to a new human subtype, can be the starting point of the genesis of a pandemic, generally associated with a high mortality rate in humans. The participation of the pig is specially mentioned.