Feb 3, 2007

H5N1 in the UK

Posted in Bird Flu, Health at 2:35 pm by David Bradley -- 10 Comments; add yours

UK government vets have confirmed infection with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in 2600 turkeys that died on a Suffolk farm owned by the Bernard Matthews company. The 159,000 turkey flock will have to be culled with all the risks that entails to prevent the disease spreading further.

According to a statement from the European Commission a protection zone of 3 km radius and …

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Dec 19, 2006

Bird flu non-news

Posted in Bird Flu, Health at 8:10 pm by David Bradley -- Click to comment

Over on foreignpolicy.com they’re reporting the Top Ten non-News Stories of 2006. Among their picks is the non-story of bird flu, or avian influenza as it’s more correctly known. In case you missed it, we didn’t all die of bird flu again this year. However, there were a few people who, having got so scared of the tiny risk that they might catch the H5N1 strain of the disease began taking Tamiflu prophalactically. More …

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Dec 15, 2006

Influenza’s long tail

Posted in Bird Flu, Health, spectroscopy at 3:00 pm by David Bradley -- Click to comment

A long protein tail found in all influenza A virus raises the possibility of novel drugs that can grab on to it and stop the virus in its tracks. The protein tail is present in common human influenza A which kills thousands of people every year as well as rare forms such as bird flu.

US scientists used crystallography to study the long flexible tail of the influenza virus’ nucleoprotein. They found that even seemingly …

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