Word: viruses
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...they also carried something new. First there was one fever, then six, then nine campers fell ill in a single day. By the end of the first full week, dozens of kids were sleeping on state-issued cots in a specially quarantined cabin, waiting out a pandemic flu virus that is barnstorming its way across the globe. Camp Modin was not alone; so far this summer, at least 80 camps in 40 American states, including a full quarter of Maine's residential summer camps, have reportedly been hit by the bug known worldwide as H1N1. Across the Atlantic, Britain...
...hovering in the background of the current pandemic is the possibility that H1N1's virulence might suddenly change. Flu's hardiness as a recurring human scourge is the result of its unstable genetic structure. One flu virus can easily swap genetic information with another, or mutate as it reproduces in the human respiratory tract. The World Health Organization tracks flu viruses for changes in their genetic makeup that would make them more deadly. But even exhaustive 21st century virology can only help health officials react to what's already happened. The best laboratory in which to study the flu virus...
...says the nightmare scenario would involve the pandemic appearance of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. With a mortality rate of more than 60%, the virus is so dangerous to humans that his team can work with it only in biosecurity Level 4 laboratories, the highest level of biological containment available. So far, H5N1 is passed to humans only from birds and is not transmissible between humans. But if it were to swap genes with another influenza virus, possibly H1N1 (through, for example, a patient who contracts the two illnesses simultaneously), a new, more lethal pandemic strain could emerge with...
...Daniels have spent the bulk of their working lives searching for a virus that could cause a pandemic. Now they are watching a pandemic unfold in front of their eyes. When he talks about influenza, Daniels tends to use his hand as a visual aid, cupping his palm to mimic the virus's spherical structure and pretending his curled fingers are the sphere's protein spikes. As he looks down at his hand, his face breaks into a wry smile. "Forget the pandemic strain for a second and consider seasonal flu," he says. "How this virus can continue to evolve...
...team is also on the lookout for changes in the virus that might make it resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which has been shown to reduce the severity of the disease caused by many flu viruses. Tamiflu works by inhibiting the neuraminidase enzyme (that's the N in H1N1) and preventing it from doing its job of helping the virus replicate once inside a human cell. But certain amino-acid changes in the neuraminidase can render Tamiflu ineffective. This usually happens over time following extensive prescribing of the drug, but it can also occur spontaneously. In the winter...