Friday, February 27, 2009

Hope for an Avian Flu Vaccine

This week's news cycle carried this item. I heard it from several sources and waited til H5N1 reported it. Crawford Kilian is a journalist with credibility. NY Times is among several places it can be found.

For the second time in a week, a team of scientists announced it had found an antibody that attacks both seasonal flu virus and the H5N1 pandemic flu strains, a discovery that could lead to new treatments and, possibly, a universal flu vaccine. The new antibody was revealed in the online journal Science by a team from the Scripps Research Institute and Crucell, a Dutch company. It attaches to the neck of the hemagglutinin spike on the virus’s shell, as did the antibody revealed on Sunday by a team from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard and others. But the first team also tested its antibody in mice.

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