Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 13 Mar 08;
RESEARCHERS in Singapore are poised to become front- line troops in the battle against the bird flu virus.
Scientists at a joint research laboratory here are expected to start probing the lethal H5N1 virus in May, to determine what could turn it from an occasional human killer into a pandemic.
The researchers are part of a team from the National University of Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
Their work will build on a recent MIT discovery which found that the bird flu virus has little trouble latching onto cell structures in the lungs, but has a harder time grasping similar structures in the nose and throat.
The report, published in the journal Nature, provides hints as to why the virus does not seem to jump from person to person, said Professor Ram Sasisekharan, who led the MIT team and is also driving influenza research at a lab here.
'Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the virus cannot be transmitted easily from one person to another when we cough or sneeze,' he said.
The finding supports evidence that the only humans to contract the disease were exposed to infected animals.
'For someone to get infected by the bird flu virus, it is likely that there is a close physical contact with another infected person, or he has handled infected birds,' he said.
The MIT team also announced last month a discovery that the deadly flu virus that swept across the world in 1918, killing at least 50 million people, was perfectly designed to latch onto the cell structures of the nose and throat.
Scientists here see the finding as a useful clue that could help fight or prevent a future pandemic.
Prof Ram, a biological engineer, plans to divide his time between Boston and Singapore from this year. While here, he will oversee an NUS-based lab looking into influenza.
The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology's infectious disease team of 50 researchers was launched last July and is led by Professor Chen Jianzhu, an MIT immunologist.
Researchers at his lab will work with local teams led by NUS virologists, Professor Vincent Chow and Associate Professor Paul Thambyah, at the National University Hospital.
Prof Thambyah, the head of the NUH medicine department's infectious diseases division, said: 'The research has a lot of implications for surveillance of influenza viruses as we try to determine which virus is going to be able to make the successful transition to be able to infect humans easily.'
Work being done here will include developing new drugs to block the entry of the virus into cells, as well as new treatments, he said.
In the meantime, the authorities remain vigilant against a bird flu strike.
While the finding shed some light on how the virus worked, Singapore should not let down its guard, said Associate Professor Raymond Lin, head of the Health Ministry's national health laboratory in the communicable diseases division.
'When there will be a flu pandemic, which virus will cause it, and how severe it will be - these cannot be predicted in advance,' he said.
