Army of Bird Flu Viruses Decoded [News]

Army of bird flu viruses decoded: Genetic data highlight a protein that could be key to flu pandemics.

Alison Abbott & Helen Pearson
New@Nature.com
January 26, 2006

The mass decoding of nearly 170 strains of avian influenza has pinpointed a particular protein region that may help the H5N1 virus to kill with a vengeance.

Human pandemics of influenza are all thought to have stemmed from bird flu viruses, and virologists are desperate to know why some viruses prove more lethal than others. The viruses' genetic codes could reveal such secrets but, until now, scientists have collected only a few complete flu genome sequences.

Now, Clayton Naeve of St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and his colleagues have doubled the amount of genetic information available on bird flu viruses in one swoop. The team used a bank of around 7,000 viral samples from ducks, gulls, poultry and other birds from around the globe. These were collected by Robert Webster, an infectious diseases researcher also at the St Jude hospital, over the past three decades. (Photo courtsey of © Getty)

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