Word: hemagglutinin
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...Mexico and the first samples of the virus were on their way to London for examination. A virologist who has studied flu for more than 30 years, Daniels knew exactly what he was looking for. Influenza A viruses - the type that can cause pandemics - use a protein called hemagglutinin to bind to the cells of their animal hosts. When a virus jumps from animals to humans, its contagiousness is largely determined by what is called the "binding specificity" of this protein. An alpha-2,3 binding specificity means the virus is well suited to the cells in an animal respiratory...
...back to the lab, and as soon as we saw a sequence of the hemagglutinin, we looked at the receptor binding site and found indications of an alpha-2,6 binding specificity," Daniels, 54, recalls. "I knew then - we have a problem." (See pictures of thermal scanners hunting for swine...
...know is they have a positive culture for H1 and they sent it down to the Centers for Disease Control," Rosenthal said. "H," or hemagglutinin, is the protein marker that distinguishes the subtype of flu of which swine flu is a variety. Further testing is necessary for final confirmation of a swine flu diagnosis...
Virologists named the newest strain of avian flu H5N1, after two proteins (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase) that dot the surface of the virus like spikes on a mace. Since 2003, more than 100 people have become sick enough to come to the attention of health authorities, and at least 60 of them have died. So far, the vast majority have been infected through close contact with birds; human-to-human infection is still extremely rare. What gives health authorities nightmares is the possibility that the lethal H5N1 could mutate into a virus that is easily passed among humans...
...cause of flu and dubbed influenza A. In 1946-47 another form of A emerged, and about this time virologists working with electron microscopes made an important discovery. They found that the outer coat of each virus particle is studded with hundreds of protein spikes. There are two types: hemagglutinin, a biochemical glue that makes red cells clump together and helps the virus get into cells, and an enzyme called neuraminidase that dissolves the glue and helps the virus get out of cells. These spikes are also the antigenic proteins that stimulate the human system to produce antibodies against future...