"One of the body's key defenses against infection is a fever, raising its internal temperature to make it harder for viruses to make copies of themselves and cause severe disease. But new research from the University of Cambridge in the UK, suggests this thermal defense mechanism does not work against bird flu. Human flu viruses typically stay in the upper respiratory tract, where temperatures are around 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius)."
"Bird flu viruses, however, thrive in the lower respiratory tract, and sometimes the gut, of birds, where temperatures are around 104 to 108F (40 to 42C), mostly above the level that a human can achieve. To investigate how this affects the severity of a bird flu infection, scientists infected mice with a modified lab-grown PR8 flu virus, a strain that scientists say is not dangerous to humans, that had the section of its genetics involved in viral replication"
"When the mice were kept at a temperature similar to a human fever, results showed the human-like version of the virus struggled to replicate, but the bird flu-like version continued to make copies of itself and caused serious disease. The study needs to be carried out in other animals more similar to humans to confirm the results, but the researchers warned that it suggested that a fever may not be effective against the disease."
Mice were infected with a modified PR8 flu virus whose replication genes were altered to resemble either human or bird flu viruses. At fever-range temperatures that inhibit human-like influenza replication, the bird-flu–like virus continued to replicate and caused severe disease. Bird influenza strains naturally thrive at avian body temperatures around 104–108°F (40–42°C), which are mostly above human fever limits. Results indicate that fever-driven thermal defenses that slow human influenza replication may not impede bird flu replication. Confirmation in animals more similar to humans is required. Fever treatment strategies for bird flu may need reevaluation.
Read at Mail Online
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