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Examining Influenza

Posted by michael on from the but-not-too-closely dept.

Wolffman writes "University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have solved a long-standing puzzle about how the influenza virus assembles its genetic contents into infectious particles that enable the virus to spread from cell to cell, scientists have opened a new gateway to a better understanding of one of the world's most virulent diseases."

1 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Re:my question to anyone who can answer it... by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, smallpox was eradicated by immunizing everyone. There have not been any natural cases of smallpox for a long time, and there will be none unless some madman commits a crime against all of humanity by re-releasing that virus.

    However, influenza, for example, infects other animals than humans. So does the bubonic plague. Complete eradication of these disease would therefore be very difficult.

    Polio can be eradicated, though, and so could some others, because no other hosts than humans exist. We are well on the way to eradicating polio.