Word: influenza
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...complications, but suggested that the Harvard community forgo “the traditional handshakes and embraces that accompany graduation ceremonies” because of an uptick in the number of students presenting flu-like symptoms. Fall semester brought a significant increase in the number of students with "influenza-like illnesses" and ill students were quarantined in Stillman Infirmary, their own single bedrooms, or other unoccupied dorm rooms. UHS ordered thousands of doses of the H1N1 vaccine and College administrators prepped to respond to increasing numbers of sickened students. Harvard began distributing the H1N1 vaccine to select groups...
...researchers, who had already used this same process in studies of HIV and the hepatitis C virus, hoped to find that some of the treated cells could not be infected with the influenza virus, which would suggest that the virus needed the deactivated gene to function. Instead, the researchers were surprised to find that the rate of infection increased dramatically when certain genes were deactivated...
Brass and Elledge said that they next seek to determine how IFITM works in preventing the flu. For now, the discovery of these native anti-viral proteins may bode well for the battle against influenza...
...drug that increases the presence of IFITM proteins in humans without provoking negative side effects may be an effective means of preventing influenza. Another area of potential research is the possibility of inserting the IFITM genes into the genomes of animals like swine and poultry—the strains of influenza most dangerous to humans typically emerge from these animals...
...addition, the discovery may help expedite the production of flu vaccines, according to Elledge. By deactivating the IFITM genes in laboratory cells, scientists could grow influenza vaccines in these cells much more quickly. The larger crop of viruses can then be used to produce more vaccines...