Influenza A virus within-host evolution and positive selection in a densely sampled household cohort over three seasons.

A preprint abstract from biorxiv.org discusses the evolution of the influenza A virus within a household cohort over three seasons. The study found that while influenza A virus antigenic drift is well-documented, positive selection is generally not detected in acute infections. This is likely due to challenges in distinguishing selected rare mutations from sequencing error. The study sequenced influenza A virus populations from nasal swabs collected from 143 individuals over three seasons and found that within-host populations were subject to purifying selection and genetic drift. Positive selection was rare and inconsistently detected. The study provides insights into the evolution of the influenza A virus within a specific population. [Extracted from the article]