Whilst reading an article earlier I decided I needed to find something out.

 

Is there a naming convention, if so what is it?

 

For example the H5N1 and H7N7 strains of avian flu...

 

Cheers

From what I remember, H1N1 would be first, followed by H1N2, which would be a minor variant. The next completely different strain would be H2N1, etc.

For flu viruses, it goes H for what type of hemaglutinin and N for what type of neurominadase. For others, I think it goes by name of place where it was discovered. Thus, Ebola Reston and Ebola Zaire

There are naming conventions used (by convention), but the main body that organises virus taxonomy (International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses) only goes down to the species level. There isn't even an agreement on what to call things below the species level, you have subspecies, variants, isolates and strains.

From what I remember, H1N1 would be first, followed by H1N2, which would be a minor variant. The next completely different strain would be H2N1, etc.

 

no... with viruses you can have something called antigenic shift and antigenic drift. drift is mild, and is the reason we get the flu every year or so, its just slight difference in the proteins of the virus that makes it harder for you immune system. Shift is a major change and this is where you change the numbers. antigenic shift means a larger and stronger (deadlier) flu epidemic. so H1N1 to H1N2 would be a shift, as well as H1N1 to H2N1. also, both numbers can change independantely of the other. like the Spanish Flu was H1N1 but the next one could have shifted either in the hemagglutinin or neuraminidase genes (H2N1 or H1N2) or both. now the main strains are H3N2 (and some H1N1) which means that H5N1's introduction would lead to an epidemic. the other problem though, is that H5N1 is particularily virulent (this is an information not contained in just the name).

 

about a convention in naming viruses. well, i'm not sure there is a global one. its true that strains are sometimes named by their point of origin (same is true with the flu) though.