AIDS & H5N1: A Deadly Combination
While I was reading the morning news, I happened across this report.
Bird flu could readily mutate into a pandemic form if it infects people with Aids, a flu expert has warned.
Dr Robert Webster said it was possible people with Aids, who have depressed immune systems, could harbour the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
This would potentially give it the opportunity to become better adapted - and more dangerous - to humans.
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At present, H5N1 cannot pass easily from human to human. It has so far infected around 125 people in South East Asia, but most of these have had close contact with infected birds.
Experts fear that the widespread infection of birds in this region, coupled with the close mixing of birds and people, could lead to the virus evolving to pose a more deadly threat.
But Dr Webster, of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital im Memphis, said the key could be when H5N1 reaches East Africa, where HIV/Aids is rife.
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He said experience with immune-compromised cancer patients at his hospital had showed they are unable to clear normal flu virus from their systems, and can shed copies of the virus for weeks.
The same could be expected of AIDS patients coming down with H5N1, he said.
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Reproducing over a long period inside a human would be the ideal conditions for more infectious forms of the virus to develop.
While no one is sure exactly what happens when H5N1 meets AIDS, it can’t be good, that’s for sure.
[Source: AEGIS]
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