Science Daily Bird flu viruses present a significant risk to humans because they can continue replicating at temperatures higher than a typical fever. Fever is one of the body’s main tools for slowing or stopping viral infections, yet research led by the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow shows that avian flu strains can keep multiplying even when the body reaches temperatures that normally hinder viruses.
In a study published in Science, the researchers identified a gene that strongly influences how sensitive a flu virus is to heat. During the major pandemics of 1957 and 1968, this gene moved into human flu viruses, and the resulting strains were able to spread efficiently.