Researchers from UT and Rutgers University have discovered new information that will help to develop a drug to curtail the prevalence of the avian flu in humans.
The researchers identified the structure of the virus, which binds to a protein that defends the human body against the virus, said Robert Krug, UT research team leader and professor of molecular genetics and microbiology.
Krug said the development of a drug may be a slow process because it will take researchers three to five years to identify a molecule to help to treat the illness and conduct animal and clinical studies.
"We've started, and we know what to look for," he said.
The possibility of the virus mutating to a contagious state in humans would be devastating, said Gaetano Montelione, Rutgers University professor of molecular biology and biochemistry who is working with Krug.
"There is the potential for a worldwide pandemic if the current strains of avian flu circulating in birds throughout Asia, Europe and Africa move into the human population," Montelione said. "For these reasons, research into the molecular basis of flu biology is important, and perhaps critical, to health and human commerce."
Montelione warns that while the current outbreak may have started half a world away, it is only a matter of time before it spreads to the Western Hemisphere.
Wild birds are usually born with the strain of the virus in their intestines but are able to fend off any harmful side effects. Avian flu can become highly contagious in domesticated birds, such as chickens and ducks. Humans can get sick if they come in contact with the contaminated birds' bodily fluids, which may lead to a variety of symptoms, including eye infections, pneumonia, breathing complications and death.
Human cases of the avian flu in the past five years have steadily increased worldwide, with four deaths in 2003 and 26 deaths so far this year, according to the World Health Organization. Since 2003, the total number of cases reported to the organization as of June stands at 385, with 243 resulting in fatalities.
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