CDC officials have said up to 40 percent of the U.S. population may eventually be infected by the H1N1 virus.

In a normal flu season, influenza infects as much as 20 percent of the U.S. population, causes more than 200,000 hospitalizations and kills about 36,000 people.

The La Jolla Institute team used the immense power of the Immune Epitope Database to compile the data for their paper, "Pre-existing Immunity Against Swine-Origin H1N1 Influenza Viruses in the General Human Populace." The database, launched in 2006 and available freely to researchers worldwide at www.iedb is the largest collection of data in the world on how the body responds to infectious disease. It is designed to aide and speed vaccine development by giving scientists quick access to existing research data. The La Jolla Institute designed, developed and continues to host the database under a contract with the NIAID.

"I think our ability to compile this data on the H1N1 virus, which is an issue of critical worldwide importance, exemplifies the value of this database as a research and public heath tool," said Dr. Sette, who is lead investigator on the database.

To conduct their study, the La Jolla Institute team obtained H1N1 virus data from several scientific resources. "We cross-referenced the swine flu sequence data with the epitope data on previous seasonal influenza viruses," said Dr. Peters, explaining that this provided the research team the ability to compare the molecular patterns of the viruses.

"The results of our study have been posted to the database to make it available to researchers worldwide, "he said. "We're glad to be able to not only host, but to contribute data, to this important resource."

Source: La Jolla Institute