H5N1 virus lives in human blood

Thai scientists first discovered a large amount of H5N1 virus in the blood of a patient who died in December last year.

This surprised the scientific community because blood has always been used to kill flu viruses, which often reside in the respiratory tract.

Among the blood-borne viruses, the flu strain is rarely seen. The findings help explain cases of avian influenza viruses that spread to non-respiratory parts of the body, such as the brain, which were not previously touched by flu viruses.

Thus, the treatment and disease control is even more difficult. Elsewhere, the US Government signed a contract to research and produce avian influenza vaccines worth over $ 1 billion on April 4 with five major pharmaceutical corporations around the world.

TM ( Washington Post, Canadian Press )