Influenza A gradual and epochal evolution: insights from simple models.

ABSTRACT: The recurrence of influenza A epidemics has originally been explained by a "continuous antigenic drift" scenario. Recently, it has been shown that if genetic drift is gradual, the evolution of influenza A main antigen, the haemagglutinin, is punctuated. As a consequence, it has been suggested that influenza A dynamics at the population level should be approximated by a serial model. Here, simple models are used to test whether a serial model requires gradual antigenic drift within groups of strains with the same antigenic properties (antigenic clusters). We compare the effect of status based and history based frameworks and the influence of reduced susceptibility and infectivity assumptions on the transient dynamics of antigenic clusters. Our results reveal that the replacement of a reside

SUBMITTER: Ballesteros S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2759541 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature