Imperial College London

Human nose too cold for bird flu, says new study

Published in Vaccine Weekly, June 3rd, 2009

Avian influenza viruses do not thrive in humans because the temperature inside a person's nose is too low, according to research published in the journal PLoS Pathogens. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the University of North Carolina, say this may be one of the reasons why bird flu viruses do not cause pandemics in humans easily.

There are 16 subtypes of avian influenza and some can mutate into forms that can infect humans, by swapping proteins on their surface with proteins from human influenza viruses.

Today's study shows that normal avian influenza viruses do not spread extensively in cells at 32 degrees Celsius, the...

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Source: Vaccine Weekly (2009-06-03)

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