The Race To Find A Bird Flu Vaccine

The big race is on for a vaccine for the H5N1 flu virus that would mean that the world could get inoculated for the disease before it strikes. Researchers at Rice University as well as the University of Texas reckon they are getting close as they have found a likely target for a new type of drugs which may be able to beat the influenza A virus that includes H5N1. The discovery could also be used to vaccinate people who get the normal strain of flu too.

The way scientists are looking at the bird flu virus is that they will welcome any new discovery that seeks to attack the flu virus from any angle as it is expected that the bird flu virus will mutate and change and that some flu drugs may become ineffective. This new angle of discovery from Texas could be another big gun in the artillery of bird flu drugs.

According to one of the researchers at Rice University even Tamiflu is unable to beat some of the strains of the H5N1 virus and that is why research needs to continue and different avenues of trial and error need to be explored.

The new research is focusing on a long and flexible ‘tail loop’ that is present on a flu protein called a nucleoprotein. The researchers have discovered that if they make slight changes to that tail loop, the nucleoproteins will not be able to stack together and thus they can’t form a structure that is needed to grow the virus. They are hoping that there new research will have exposed the ‘Achilles' heel’ of this flu virus.

In the meantime the best thing that a person can do to protect himself or herself from the flu virus is to get some Tamiflu and have it ready just in case a bird flu pandemic strikes. The drug is recommended by the World Health organization as the most effective bird flu remedy at present.