From Flu to Superflu
Date: 17.10.2007
Just in time for flu season comes the **discovery** that a **single protein** may largely explain the unprecedented **deadliness** of the 1918 **influenza epidemic**. The finding should help infectious disease experts spot future flu viruses that pose the most risk of causing another global pandemic.
The 1918 outbreak - also known as the **Spanish flu** - was the deadliest strain of flu virus the world has ever seen. Estimates of fatalities range from 40 million to 100 million. Some people fell victim to the flu virus itself, but many of the deaths were due to the pneumonia that people developed as a result of damage to their lungs. **Why was the virus so deadly?** Scientists suspect that a recently discovered **protein** called **PB1-F2**, which is found in many flu viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu strain that has killed 202 people, may hold some answers.
"ScienceNOW":[ http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1011/2]
