Why the flu attacks more in the winter?…

March 6, 2008

A team of scientists say their found the reason why the flu virus attacks more in the winter.

The results have been published in the last edition of the magazine “Nature Chemical Biology”

According to the scientists the virus has a gelly cover made out of fat that becomes rigid when exposed to temperatures lower than 15.6 degrees Celsius. When this cover is rigid the virus stays protected inside, allowing it to transfer from body to body. When the temperatures are higher than 15.6 degrees Celsius the cover becomes more like gelly, allowing the virus to propagate to other cells. This data was obtained through magnetic resonance imaging were the scientists could see at which temperatures does the cover reacts to.

This is the answer to why the flu attacks more in the winter.

 Already there are people against this theory, like John Oxford, specialist in virology at Queen Mary College School of Medicine. He says that the flue affects the same in places like Vietnam or Indonesia, were the temperatures are much higher. So the conclusion about the behavior of the cover might not be the final answer.

The facts are that each year the flue kills 250 to 500 thousands person in the winter, says the World Health Organization.

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