According to the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, many of the scientists can tell that influenza virus can possibly paralyze the immune systems of healthy people. Based on this information, a severe secondary bacertial infection can cause these people to die and is being looked at to see if this could come in the form of the flu.
According to Kathleen Sullivan who is involved in the study at the Dvision of allergy and Immunology at the children's hospital in Philadephia. "We have a very limited understanding of why some people who get influenza simply have a bad cold and other people become very sick and even die. The results of this study give us a much better sense of the mechanisms underlying bacterial infections arising on top of the viral infection."Many of her collegues haver recruited pediatic patients with severe influenza, and looked at the level of cytokines which show the level of immune response.
Based upon the data that was collected, they were able to compare them with patienst with a moderate strain of this and the immune paralysis was found in the people with influenza infection but not in the ones that also had respiratory syncytial virus. From this scientists can determine why one quarter of children die from influenza along with a bacterial infection. John Warry of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology believes that Despite major medical advances since the devastating flu outbreak of 1918 and 1919, influenza virus infection remains a very serious threat," "and the current swine flu outbreak is a grim reminder of this fact.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090504141843.htm
1 comment:
This was a good article. it was interesting how influenza virus can possibly paralyze the immune systems of healthy people.
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