[neverdem]

Nature News did a swine flu special.

The short article and links above are just one part of it. From the URL it looks like it's from Nov. 2007.

[neverdem]

The link in comment# 1 goes to a special on swine flu.

[Smokin' Joe]

ping...(Thanks, neverdem!)

[Myrddin]

The short answer: you grow the real virus or one very close. The virus is then "attenuated" using formaldehyde or heat to reduce its potency while leaving the necessary antigenic sites intact. The immune system recognizes the new antigens as "foreign" and creates a matching "antibody" that can bind to the antigen. When live virus arrives, the immune system makes lots of matching antibody. An antibody-antigen pair provides the necessary means for other immune system cells to envelop and destroy the virus bound to the antibody.

The critical first step is starting with a good sample of the target virus and successfully growing lots of it.

[neverdem]

At least two of the five frequently asked questions(FAQ) have broken links. I emailed Nature about one of them. I missed converting the next link from a relative URL to an absolute URL when I posted the story for the thread. I'm sorry. Check the link in comment# 1 for their Swine Flu special.

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