xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> “Flu Protein May Help Virus Disarm Immune System”

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

http://www.immunizationinfo.org/ 

“Flu Protein May Help Virus Disarm Immune System” Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com)

(12/03/01); Norton, Amy

Researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have discovered a new protein in the influenza A virus that specializes in killing a person’s immune system cells.  Named PB1-F2, the protein is part of the strain of flu that caused three major epidemics during the 20th century, and may help scientists understand why some flu strains kill so many people while others do not.  Reporting in the December issue of Nature Medicine, Dr. Jonathan W. Yewdell and associates hypothesize that the new insights may eventually lead to a potential new treatment target for the flu.  According to NIAID, every year as much as 20 percent of the American population comes down with the flu and complications take the lives of nearly 20,000.

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