Scientists have undertaken a dangerous yet essential task: Reviving the “Spanish flu” virus in a high-security laboratory in the United States.
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France focuses on stockpiling avian flu vaccines |
The H1N1 virus caused a global pandemic, resulting in the deaths of 20 to 50 million people, including healthy adults. Scientists believe it is a variant of the avian influenza virus that mutated to infect humans.
To resurrect it, they traveled to Alaska to excavate the remains of a woman buried in that area back in November 1918.
They extracted lung cells to analyze and identify the genetic code of the virus. Researcher Terrence Tumpey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta stated: “We conducted experiments to understand the biological characteristics that made the virus of 1918 so virulent.”
Alarmingly, the “resurrected” virus remains as potent as ever: it killed laboratory mice within days and also eradicated chicken embryos, similar to the current H5N1 strain.
Their research, published yesterday in the journal Science and Nature, provides valuable insights for vaccine research, the development of antiviral drugs, and monitoring the evolution of avian influenza virus strains.
Accordingly, one of the genes associated with the “killer” nature of the avian influenza virus is the hemagglutinin (HA) protein on the virus’s surface. HA allows the virus to attach to the cells of the host it infects.
By understanding the mechanism of HA, it may be possible to block its action. Scientists also noted that there are some similar mutations between the 1918 virus strain and the H5N1 and H7N7 viruses.
The results of this research are akin to a welcoming gift for the conference focused on avian influenza that commenced yesterday in Washington. According to the U.S. Department of State, health experts and government officials from over 65 countries, along with representatives from international organizations, attended this two-day conference to discuss coordinated efforts to prevent an influenza outbreak once it occurs.
Related conferences on avian influenza will continue to be held in the coming months: at the end of October in Australia for the Asia-Pacific region, on October 25 and 26 in Canada, and the World Health Organization will host a fundraising conference in Geneva on November 7 and 8.
NGUYỄN QUÂN (According to Reuters, AFP)
