Word: influenza
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...healthy ones. So while not killing the virus, it helps the body fight off the disease by slowing its spread. This, in turn, may help prevent "acute respiratory distress syndrome" - the sudden worsening of flu that, along with secondary lung infections, is a main cause of death among influenza patients. There is also evidence to suggest that they can be used prophylactically - to prevent rather than treat the disease. "We don't have many tools in our medicine cabinet to fight this disease, but this is one of them," says Howard Markel, a physician and director of the History...
...resistant mutations are more likely to thrive and be passed on. A similar process has led to the widespread existence of antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA. But it can also happen spontaneously: during this winter's flu season, when antivirals were not widely used, the dominant strain of influenza suddenly became resistant to Oseltamivir. Doctors are uncertain as to why. In a pandemic situation, when the drugs will be widely prescribed, many virologists believe that resistance will inevitably develop - they just hope it will happen slowly...
...upcoming flu season last January and are now in the midst of culturing and purifying that virus for this fall's flu season. Nevertheless, Cary is confident: "We have two plants that both have the capability of producing what the U.S. market demand is for the seasonal and swine influenza vaccine," she says...
Other companies are taking an entirely novel approach and hoping to pick off influenza viruses in the nasal passages before they get deeper into the body and infect other cells. At NanoBio Corporation, a biotech company in Michigan, scientists are perfecting a topical nasal spray that would destroy any single-celled particles, like viruses, bacteria or fungi, on contact, while leaving our multicelled tissues intact. (Blood cells would be fair game for the destructive emulsion, however, so the solution could not be injected into the body.) In animal studies, says Dr. James Baker, the company's chairman of the board...
...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that a Notre Dame student tested positive for swine flu - school officials in Indiana said the undergraduate had not been to Mexico recently - and the University of Delaware has started screening students in a special clinic after four cases of influenza that meet probable definitions for swine flu popped on campus...