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Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Re: Where does pandemic / avian flu originate?
« on: 13/11/2005 09:24:15 »
I have some questions about the avian flu.
(1) I keep hearing about how the dreaded inflection point in the evolution of this virus would be if it finds itself in a human host along with a conventional flu virus, and through some kind of viral sex, picks up the right genes to enable human-to-human infectiousness. However, I've also heard that, actually, all influenza viruses are avian in origin. At any rate, H5N1 isn't the only avian flu virus out there. Therefore, isn't it possible that H5N1 could mutate, or borrow human-targeting genes from another flu virus, while within a bird host?
(2) I've read that the mortality rates of 1918 H1N1-type viruses (including the current H5N1) are 10 times higher than conventional flu for children and the elderly, and 10,000 times higher for healthy adults, due to the "cytokine storm" reaction of a healthy immune system, which attacks the body's own tissue. If this is true, then...
A. In the case of an H5N1 pandemic, shouldn't we alter our usual regime of inoculating and giving anti-virals to just children and the elderly?
B. Also, if one somehow found oneself infected with H5N1, wouldn't it be prudent to endeavor to suppress one's own immune response? Are there any drugs that do this specifically? (Alcohol comes to mind -- and red wine also contains the bonus of resveratrol, which allegedly has antiviral properties -- but it obviously brings with it other considerations.)
__
Is "tired old cliche" one?
-Steven Wright
(1) I keep hearing about how the dreaded inflection point in the evolution of this virus would be if it finds itself in a human host along with a conventional flu virus, and through some kind of viral sex, picks up the right genes to enable human-to-human infectiousness. However, I've also heard that, actually, all influenza viruses are avian in origin. At any rate, H5N1 isn't the only avian flu virus out there. Therefore, isn't it possible that H5N1 could mutate, or borrow human-targeting genes from another flu virus, while within a bird host?
(2) I've read that the mortality rates of 1918 H1N1-type viruses (including the current H5N1) are 10 times higher than conventional flu for children and the elderly, and 10,000 times higher for healthy adults, due to the "cytokine storm" reaction of a healthy immune system, which attacks the body's own tissue. If this is true, then...
A. In the case of an H5N1 pandemic, shouldn't we alter our usual regime of inoculating and giving anti-virals to just children and the elderly?
B. Also, if one somehow found oneself infected with H5N1, wouldn't it be prudent to endeavor to suppress one's own immune response? Are there any drugs that do this specifically? (Alcohol comes to mind -- and red wine also contains the bonus of resveratrol, which allegedly has antiviral properties -- but it obviously brings with it other considerations.)
__
Is "tired old cliche" one?
-Steven Wright