when he spoke of influenza avian and its potential to be the new great pandemic only analyzed two factors: virulence and ability of mutation. Well, it seems to be that to these traditional factors should add a new one: the ability to survive in the nostrils. Or that’s what British and American scientists explained last Friday and which could be the cause of that this virus has not spread as easily among the population. according to the Imperial College of London and the University of North Carolina, avian flu nests in the throat of the bird, where the temperature is around 40 degrees, while the human nose, the usual site of entry of human influenza has an average temperature of 32 degrees. Clinical trials suggest that they would also need more than one mutation to H5N1 was able to survive in the nose.
Avian viruses are always present there outside, but they can only cause pandemics when certain changes occur. Our study provides vital evidence about that changes would be needed to make it mutated and infect humans, potentially helping to identify virus can cause a pandemic ”
source: Imperial College London, May 15, 2009
Tags: flu, avian flu, virus
