India has started to isolate the deadly H1N1 virus from the nasal samples of the country’s first swine flu patient — the first step towards developing the world’s first H1N1 influenza vaccine and tools to diagnose infection faster.

Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (Pune) and National Institute of Communicable Diseases (Delhi) are now trying to make the H1N1 virus, that was isolated from a 23-year-old in Hyderabad on Friday, multiply in eggs and cell lines.

Viruses require a host cell to grow or replicate. If the virus successfully grows in the egg, of which there is 80% chance, Indian scientists will be able to make multiple copies of the virus in the lab itself and then use it to create a vaccine against H1N1, better diagnostic kits for H1N1 detection and also test for anti-viral resistance.

A scientist working on the virus sample told TOI, "The virus can be isolated from samples which are collected from infected individuals within 24-48 hours of symptoms and before Tamilfu is administered. In two weeks time, we will know if the Indian virus has started to multiply in eggs."

ICMR director-general Dr V M Katoch said, "All states have been instructed to pick up additional samples from people who are suspected to be carrying the H1N1 infection."

"If indication is that the person is positive, states have been told to pick up an additional nasal sample before Tamiflu is administered. This way, India can have its own collection of strains on which multiple research projects can be carried out," Katoch said.

Joint secretary in the health ministry Vineet Chawdhry said that India has started to study the virus that was isolated from Hyderabad and wants to know its transmissibility and virulence level. "This is a new virus and we don’t know how it will behave in the subcontinent. Research carried out by ICMR on this virus strain will try to answer these questions really soon," Chawdhry said.