Scientist Isabell Wendel infects chicken embryos in their eggs with the swine flu virus H1N1 on April 27, 2009, at the Virology Institute for of the Marburg University, in order to explore the virus. Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images With swine flu continuing to spread around the world, researchers say they have found the reason it is — so far — more a series of local blazes than a wide-raging wildfire. The new virus, H1N1, has a protein on its surface that is not very efficient at binding with receptors in people's respiratory tracts, researchers at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. "While the virus is able to bind human receptors, it clearly appears to be restricted," Ram Sasisekharan, lead author of the report, said in a statement. But flu viruses are... [read full story]
