A NEW strain of influenza threatens to kill thousands and commit
millions more to their beds this winter, doctors and scientists at a
medical conference in Glasgow were warned yesterday.
The new virus, known as the Beijing 32 variant of influenza A, is
already rampant in Australia and other southern hemisphere areas where
it is currently winter.
Doctors told the 9th International Congress of Virology that current
flu vaccines would be 70% to 80% effective against Beijing 32.
''We are trying to develop a vaccine targeted more specifically
towards it but there is no hope of it being available this winter,''
said flu expert Dr Peter Palese, of Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New
York.
''It will be one of the most severe outbreaks in recent years -- it
isn't going to cut a swathe through the whole population like Spanish
flu did in 1918, but old people, infants, smokers, and others with low
immunity will be vulnerable. It could also cost a lot of working days.''
The good news on flu is that scientists like Dr Palese are devising
new ways of manipulating viruses genetically so that new vaccines can be
developed from them, thereby keeping up with the mutations that help
viruses keep one step ahead of existing vaccines.
Apart from flu, targets include Respiratory Syncytial Virus, the
biggest single cause of hospitalisation of babies. Dr Palese said there
was also a possibility of genetically altering the flu virus to turn it
into a vaccine against malaria.
* Other scientists described genetic intervention in crop plants to
protect them from disease, including making them grow their own
''aspirin''.
They have found a scientific basis to the old wives' tale that an
aspirin in the water prolongs the life of a vase of flowers.
Dr David Baulcome, from the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, described
it as systemic acquired resistance. ''The plant switches on resistance
to viral, fungal, or bacterial disease with a range of proteins . . . a
blunderbuss defence,'' he said.
Part of the mechanism was a signalling system which depended on
salicylic acid, better know as aspirin.
Genetic engineering of foodstuffs is controversial, with
environment-conscious restaurants in America advertising that their food
has not been treated in this way.
However, the scientists pointed out that genetic transformation to
prevent viruses from replicating in plants could reduce the need for
environmentally damaging sprays.
''Plant viruses lead to millions of deaths through famine in the
under-developed world,'' said Dr Jeff Davies, of the John Innes
Institute in Norwich.
''In the developed world we can count the economic cost -- potato
viruses cost millions of pounds in the UK alone -- but you can't put a
price on crops like cassava, eaten by local subsistence farmers. When
crops fail, people die.''
' It will be one of the most severe outbreaks of recent years. '
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article