Common cold link to bird flu vaccine

Scientists in the US have claimed the common cold has helped them in the fight against bird flu.

They say they have genetically-modified one of the causes of the common cold to develop a new vaccine.

It is hoped the US breakthrough could provide a lifeline in the event of a pandemic threatening millions of lives if bird flu mutates to a strain which can be passed via humans.

The vaccine was made by genetically modifying one of the causes of the common cold - this produced a protein that is a component of H5N1 bird flu.

Mice injected with the protein were protected from death - the new drug triggered the generation of specific immune system T-cells that helped clear the virus.

The research was led by Dr Suryaprakash Sambhara, from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and Professor Suresh Mittal, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

They wrote in an early online edition of The Lancet medical journal: "This approach is a feasible vaccine strategy against existing and newly emerging viruses of highly pathogenic avian influenza to prepare against a potential pandemic.

"This approach also provides a viable option for potential vaccine stockpiling for the influenza pandemic."

Since 2003, a total of 160 people have been infected with H5N1 birdflu and 85 have died.

Most victims have been from eastern Asia, but 12 cases and four deaths have been recorded in Turkey.