Word: viruses
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...Three months later, and the human race is entrenched in a battle with the H1N1 2009 pandemic virus, with infections reported in 168 countries. In this mortal contest, it's the job of Daniels and his fellow virologists to decode the opponent's playbook. Working in a grim, 1930s building in London's northern suburbs (its exterior was used to portray an insane asylum in the blockbuster Batman Begins), scientists at the World Influenza Centre receive virus samples from around the world and use sophisticated machinery to map their genetic structures. During normal years, the scientists concoct the recipe that...
...April 25, Rod Daniels, the deputy director of the World Influenza Centre in London, was at a meeting in Germany when he received a call from a co-worker: an influenza outbreak had been reported in 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...
...Right now this pandemic would appear to be a mild one," says the center's director, Alan Hay, 65. "But influenza viruses can change quite suddenly. And there's no reason another, more dangerous virus couldn't emerge with pandemic potential. It's crucial that we keep our eye on the ball...
...living through a pandemic right now, but we don't yet know if the H1N1/09 virus--the new official name for what was first called swine flu--will sear the history books or merely strike us a glancing blow. In just a few months, H1N1/09 has spread to nearly every country in the world, infecting so many people that the World Health Organization has officially stopped counting. In nations where it is already winter, like Argentina, H1N1/09 has caused billions of dollars in damage, and China is quarantining foreigners suspected to have the flu. In the U.S., the virus...
Still, so far H1N1/09 hasn't proved a serious killer. But as the U.S. prepares for an uptick in infections this fall, even a mild pandemic could overload a clogged health-care system. And there's no guarantee the virus won't get worse--the Spanish flu was relatively light in the spring of 1918, only to turn lethal that autumn. U.S. health officials said on July 29 that they hope to have 120 million doses of a new H1N1/09 vaccine ready by October, but the virus could change by then, or the vaccine might prove less than effective. Virologists...