Researchers Find New Clues into Spread of Influenza B

Researchers believe they have a way to help scientists come up with better ways of treating seasonal flu caused by the influenza B strain.

Researchers at Rutgers and the University of Texas at Austin believe they have a way to help scientists come up with better ways of treating seasonal flu caused by the influenza B strain. And they also think they know why influenza B is contracted only by humans.

While influenza B is relatively mild, its cousin influenza A causes much more damage. It crosses species and was responsible for a great flu pandemic in 1918, others in 1968 and 1977, and the avian flu that made news in the middle of the last decade. Understanding why influenza B is limited to humans will help scientists better understand how influenza A strains are able to cross species, researchers said.

Gaetano Montelione at Rutgers has been able to sketch out what happens when an influenza virus