It is important to comprehend the evolutionary dynamics of the influenza virus, which will enable scientists evolve better strategies to tackle the virus.

Dr. Eddie C. Holmes of the Department of Biology at Pennsylvania State University and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, the Wordsworth Center and the Institute for Genomic Research, employed genomic analysis to scrutinize the evolutionary characteristics of the H3N2 subtype of human influenza A virus.

With the help of a sample group of 413 complete influenza genomes from across New York State, scientists conducted a comparative study. Viral strains which are genetically different are mingling within any season and rarely indulge in gene exchange. Also, adaptive evolution takes place infrequently in the influenza virus; events that happen by chance have a great influence on the variety and evolution of the virus.

These important reasons render the influenza virus extremely unpredictable, hence forecasting the pattern of evolution of the influenza virus is difficult, but extremely crucial to evolve fruitful strategies to contain the virus.