Tag Influenza

Gene from 1918 virus proves key to virulent influenza

October 6, 2004

Using a gene resurrected from the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, recorded history's most lethal outbreak of infectious disease, scientists have found that a single gene may have been responsible for the devastating virulence of the virus.

Study of flu patients reveals virus outsmarting key drug

August 26, 2004

A drug envisioned as a front-line defense for the next flu pandemic might have a genetic Achilles' heel that results in a drug-resistant influenza virus capable of infecting new human hosts, according to a study published Aug. 28 in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Scientists solve puzzle of how influenza builds its infectious seeds

January 27, 2003

By solving a long-standing puzzle about how the influenza virus assembles its genetic contents into infectious particles that enable the virus to spread from cell to cell, scientists have opened a new gateway to a better understanding of one of the world's most virulent diseases.

With a tweak, flu virus is a killer

September 6, 2001

By incorporating the slightest change in the arrangement of its molecules, the virus responsible for a brief but frightening influenza outbreak in Hong Kong several years ago can quickly morph from a relatively benign virus to a killer.

New technique can create flu viruses

August 3, 1999

A research team has perfected a method for creating designer influenza viruses, which can be tailor-made to solve mysteries about how flu strains mutate, spread and cause illness.