The 1918 influenza virus, which killed some 50 million people worldwide, has proved fatal to macaques infected in a laboratory, causing the monkeys' immune systems to go into overdrive, causing immune proteins to be expressed at abnormally high levels and attack the body.
The study follows Nature's controversial publication of the virus's sequence in 2005, alongside a paper in Science that described the recreation of the virus from a corpse and its potency in mice.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Concern as revived 1918 flu virus kills monkeys
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Scary stuff...both the study and the results. I'd hate to think of a flu that spread that fast and killed that fast, but I guess we've been warned about the possibilities of a bird flu, like this one seems to be. Lets just hope that we know enough to not let 20-40 million people die next time.
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