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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2007;297:580.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

With its predilection for striking young and healthy adults more than children and the elderly, the 1918 "Spanish" influenza virus is believed to have differed from contemporary strains in its mechanism of action. New research is now illuminating this mechanism, pointing to viral effects that activated the innate immune response to levels that were so damaging to the lungs that acute respiratory distress, severe tissue damage, edema and hemorrhage, and pneumonia resulted in many individuals (Kobasa D et al. Nature. 2007;45:319-323).

In their study of the host response against the 1918 virus, investigators say they have found something unique, "and we think this response is the determinant for the outcome of infection," said principal investigator Yoshihiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. The findings could also have parallels to host immune responses against avian H5N1 flu viruses.

OVERLY INNATE

The latest findings come from . . . [Full Text of this Article]