Following the recent swine flu scare, British scientists are the latest to join the worldwide race to develop a vaccine.
Following the recent swine flu scare, researchers from all over the world have stepped up efforts to build a vaccine. British scientists are the latest to join the race.
A team from National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in Hertfordshire have started their work for developing a vaccine against the H1N1 virus.
Swine Flu Or Pig Flu Facts
Is the world in the grip of its first influenza pandemic in forty years? It definitely seems so! The current swine flu or pig flu disaster traces its origin to the badly- hit State of Mexico.
Is the world in the grip of its first influenza pandemic in forty years? It definitely seems so! The current swine flu or pig flu disaster traces its origin to the badly- hit State of Mexico.
"They are like virus production factories," the BBC quoted principal scientist Dr John Wood as saying.
The process involves injecting a small amount of virus into each egg.
All You Wanted to Know About Swine Flu
While there have been a number of outbreaks of the new strain of swine flu, there also have emerged a whole gamut of misinformation.
While there have been a number of outbreaks of the new strain of swine flu, there also have emerged a whole gamut of misinformation.
The first one is "reverse genetics", where scientists take the H and the N surface proteins from the H1N1 virus and mix them with a laboratory virus known as PR8.
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The second technique involves injecting both the H1N1 and PR8 viruses into eggs and allowing the hybrid strain to be created through a natural re-assortment of their genes.
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The researchers hope that the first seed strain of H1N1 swine flu vaccine will be ready in three to four weeks.
It will then take another four or five months for vaccine manufacturers to produce the vaccine in bulk.
Source-ANI
THK
