Question

6. Antigenic shift can occur in a variety of microbes.

Using layman’s terms, explain antigenic shift.

What is an antigen and how does it get “shifted?”

Why does an antigenic shift sometimes lead to a pandemic in humans, whereas sometimes it leads to a virus that generally does not infect humans?

Answer 1

According to Layman's terms, Antigenic Shift is a major change in the influenza virus. This shift typically occurs when a human flu virus crosses with a flu virus that actually affects animals such as birds or pigs. When the viruses mutate,they shift to create a new subtype that is different from any seen in humans before.

Antigenic Shift is a process by which two or more different strains of a virus,or strains of two or more different viruses combine to form a new subtype having mixture of the surface antigens of the two or more original strains. It occurs when a radical and abrupt change in influenza type A virus hemagglutinins occurs. It occurs when two viruses simultaneously infect the same animal.

An Antigenic Shift can lead to a worldwide pandemic if the virus is efficiently transmitted from person to person. If this new virus cause illness in infected people and can spread easily from person to person,an influenza pandemic can occur.