Posts Tagged ‘Spanish flu’
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Above, left, the antigenic structure of H1N1 HA, the protein “hook” that allows the virus to attach itself to and infect host cells. Five antigenic sites were identified: Sa (cyan), Sb (red), Ca1 (yellow), Ca2 (green), Cb (blue). It’s long been known that five regions of H1N1′s HA serve as antigenic sites, the protein fragments that trigger the body’s immune system. These antigenic sites, first mapped in 1981, shuffle their amino-acid sequences in the endless cat-and-mouse game that viruses play to survive.
RICE (US)—The H1N1 influenza virus has been keeping a secret that may be the key to defeating it and other flu viruses as well. Continue…
