Blood protects against long-gone killer 1918 flu Published:
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. Last Modified: Monday,
August 18, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly a century
after history's most lethal flu faded away, survivors'
bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the
1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human
immune system. Scientists tested the blood of 32 people aged 92
to 102 who were exposed to the 1918 pandemic flu and found
antibodies that still roam the body looking to strangle the old
flu strain. Researchers manipulated those antibodies into a
vaccine and found that it kept alive all the mice they had
injected with the killer flu, according to a study published
online Sunday in the journal Nature. There's no pressing need
for a 1918 flu vaccine because the virus has long since mutated
out of its deadly form and is extremely unlikely to be a threat
anymore, experts said. What's more important in this research,
they said, is that it confirms theorie