Bird Flu Virus May Have Vulnerable Spot
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A detailed analysis of the bird flu virus has shown scientists a new way to fight the disease and suggests how existing therapies might lose potency.
Using X-ray crystallography, researchers found a gap in a critical protein on the surface of the H5N1 virus. Plugging it might stop infections more effectively than current drugs, said John Skehel, director of the U.K.’s National Institute for Medical Research in London, who led the study in the journal Nature.
