Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Mitigation Approaches to Combat the Flu Pandemic Management of flu pandemic is a perpetual challenge for the medical fraternity since time immemorial. Animal to human transmission has been observed thrice in the last century within an average range of 11-39 years of antigenic recycling. The recent outbreak of influenza A (H1N1, also termed as swine flu), first reported in Mexico on April 26, 2009, occurred in the forty first year since last reported flu pandemic (July 1968). Within less than 50 days, it has assumed pandemic proportions (phase VI) affecting over 76 countries with 163 deaths/35,928 cases (as on 15(th) June 2009). It indicated the re-emergence of genetically reassorted virus having strains endemic to humans, swine and avian (H5N1). The World Health Organisation (WHO) member states have already pulled up their socks and geared up to combat such criticalities. Earlier outbreaks of avian flu (H5N1) in different countries led WHO to develop pandemic preparedness strategies with national/regional plans on pandemic preparedness. Numerous factors related to climatic conditions, socio-economic strata, governance and sharing of information/logistics at all levels have been considered critical indicators in monitoring the dynamics of escalation towards a pandemic situation. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India, with the active cooperation of UN agencies and other stakeholders/experts has formulated a concept paper on role of nonhealth service providers during pandemics in April 2008 and released national guidelines - management of biological disasters in July 2008. These guidelines enumerate that the success of medical management endeavors like pharmaceutical (anti-viral Oseltamivir and Zanamivir therapies), nonpharmaceutical interventions and vaccination development etc., largely depends on level of resistance offered by mutagenic viral strain and rationale use of pharmaco therapeutic interventions. This article describes the mitigation approach to combat flu pandemic with its effective implementation at national, state and local levels.  NSs Encoded by Groundnut Bud Necrosis Virus Is a Bifunctional Enzyme Groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV), a member of genus Tospovirus in the family Bunyaviridae, infects a large number of leguminosae and solanaceae plants in India. With a view to elucidate the function of nonstructural protein, NSs encoded by the small RNA genome (S RNA), the NSs protein of GBNV- tomato (Karnataka) [1] was over-expressed in E. coli and purified by Ni-NTA chromatography. The purified rNSs protein exhibited an RNA stimulated NTPase activity. Further, this activity was metal ion dependent and was inhibited by adenosine 5′ (β, γ imido) triphosphate, an ATP analog. The rNSs could also hydrolyze dATP. Interestingly, in addition to the NTPase and dATPase activities, the rNSs exhibited ATP independent 5′ RNA/DNA phosphatase activity that was completely inhibited by AMP. The 5′ α phosphate could be removed from ssDNA, ssRNA, dsDNA and dsRNA thus confirming that rNSs has a novel 5′ α phosphatase activity. K189A mutation in the Walker motif A (GxxxxGKT) resulted in complete loss of ATPase activity, but the 5′ phosphatase activity was unaffected. On the other hand, D159A mutation in the Walker motif B (DExx) resulted in partial loss of both the activities. These results demonstrate for the first time that NSs is a bifunctional enzyme, which could participate in viral movement, replication or in suppression of the host defense mechanism. The genus Tospovirus of the family Bunyaviridae is unique in infecting plants whereas the other members of this family infect only animals. Tospoviruses are transmitted by thrips in a persistent manner. They are quasi spherical enveloped viruses of 80-120 nm diameter with tripartite single stranded RNA genomes. The largest of the three single stranded RNA molecules, L RNA, codes for RNA dependent RNA polymerase in the virion complementary sense. The middle (M) RNA encodes the precursor for glycoproteins G1 and G2 in the virion complementary sense and the non structural protein, NSm in the virion sense orientation. The small (S) RNA codes for the nonstructural protein, NSs in the virion sense and nucleocapsid protein N in the virion complementary sense [2] . Using a green fluorescent protein based transient suppression assay, it was shown that NSs from Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) (type member of Tospovirus) could function as a suppressor of post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) [3] . NSs is also associated with the symptom severity [4] and is known to form the paracrystalline array in the cytoplasm of infected plant and thrips [5] . However, biochemical characterization of NSs has not been reported so far. Among Tospoviruses reported from India, Groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV) also called Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) has been well characterized [6, 7, 8, 9, 10] . The N and NSm genes of several isolates from different locations in India infecting Leguminosae and Solanaceae plants have been sequenced and shown to be strains of GBNV [8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14] . We have earlier purified and characterized a strain of GBNV infecting tomato in Karnataka GBNV-To (K) [1] . In the present study, we have cloned the NSs gene of GBNV-To (K) and overexpressed it in E.coli. The amino acid sequence of NSs protein contains Walker A (GxxxxGKT) and Walker B (DExx) motifs. The proteins which posses the Walker A and Walker B motifs exhibit RNA/DNA stimulated NTPase activity [15] . Some of the viral encoded non structural proteins such as NS3 protein from West Nile flavivirus, Hepatitis C virus, Yellow fever virus and Dengue virus type 2 [16, 17, 18] , which have these motifs are shown to exhibit nucleic acid stimulated NTPase activity. However, none of the viral encoded proteins of the Bunyaviridae family have been shown to exhibit the NTPase activity. Therefore, it was of interest to examine, if the NSs possessed the NTPase activity. The rNSs exhibited poly(A)stimulated metal ion dependent NTPase/dATPase activity. Further it was shown to exhibit ATP independent 59 DNA/RNA phosphatase activity. Mutation of K189 to A in the Walker motif A resulted in the complete loss of ATPase activity but not the 59 phophatase activity, whereas mutation of D159 to A in the Walker motif B resulted in the partial loss of both the activities. Thus, for the first time we demonstrate that NSs is a bifunctional enzyme and it might play a pivotal role at different stages of viral life cycle.