Donaldson said scientists are yet to definitively trace the origins of the virus strain that Britain is currently battling to contain and eradicate.
While the new virus strain in the recent outbreak has affected humans, Canadian officials said it has shown up at a pig farm in Alberta, Canada.
On Saturday, the virus strain was found in a herd of swine in Alberta, Canada, and the animals may have caught the flu from a farmer who recently returned from a trip to Mexico.
Over a period of about two weeks, and thousands and thousands of virus generations, she can produce a strain of virus evolved to do her bidding and then clone it.
This data, and the fact that the virus was a 1995 strain, shows that the seals caught a human virus in 1995.
One strain of virus then infects all cells, producing a soup full of virus.
Any time a virus or a new strain of bacteria would appear entire countries and populations would die out.
That meant she was infected with at least one strain of the virus that sometimes leads to cancer.
The H5N1 strain of the virus was found in China back in 2003.
If you've had influenza in the past, your body has already made antibodies to fight that particular strain of the virus.
There is now strong evidence that the illness is caused by a new strain of Corona virus, although this is not yet proven.
More than half of the cases have been caused by the DENV-4 strain of the virus, which was first detected in Brazil in 2011.
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This strain of the virus was first seen in Australia, where the norovirus season is lasting longer than usual as outbreaks continue into their summer.
Those results will help determine whether a stronger strain of the virus will return to the United States and the Northern Hemisphere during the fall flu season.
It has already spread to the edges of the European Union: last month, the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was confirmed in poultry in Turkey and Romania.
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Scientists around the world who are investigating the strain suggested the virus could be hard to track because it shows no symptoms in poultry but can be fatal in humans.
Like all new drugs, any vaccine for flu - even one for a particularly lethal strain of the virus - will take time to develop and to be made available to the public.
As for why this winter's flu season seems especially bad, Dr. Marr believes it is because of the particular strain of the virus, H3N2, which causes "stronger" symptoms, as well as an early start to the season.
Even though the regular seasonal flu vaccine contains a strain of the A-flu virus group, it will not prevent you from getting sick if you come in contact with the new flu strain.
It targets a strain of the HIV virus that is predominant only in Europe and Asia.
To make matters worse, it may turn out that no vaccine will work on every strain of the AIDS virus.
Scientists are working on the genetic sequencing of the virus, as well as growing a strain that functions as a vaccine.
The strain H3N2 of the flu virus is causing many of the cases, reports suggest, and it is known to cause severe illness, especially among the elderly.
Only last week an emergency vaccination programme was ordered in Cairo after samples of the polio virus were found in sewage - the strain matches that in southern Pakistan.
Swine flu is a respiratory disease which is caused by a strain of the influenza type A virus known as H1N1.
The boy, who tested positive for the H7N9 virus, is considered a carrier of the strain and has been placed under observation to see if he develops symptoms, health authorities said.
Another method of creating a candidate virus also mixes wild virus with a second, fast-growing strain, but instead of growing them in eggs, lets the viruses mingle in a special solution while scientists manipulate them through a complex technique called reverse genetics.
Experts fear that as the number of humans infected with the H5N1 strain increases, the opportunity for the virus to mutate also grows.
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That theory received a big boost when tests on the British virus showed it to be virtually identical to the strain that had caused the Hungarian outbreak.
So are we ready to battle a pandemic strain of bird flu if this new virus picks up the capacity to more efficiently spread from person to person?
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