Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Bird flu can pass through the placenta to infect the unborn child. In fact, it not only hits the lungs, but passes throughout the entire body, through the digestive system, brain, liver and blood cells. This important discovery was made by a study group at Beijing University’s centre for infective diseases, directed by Dr. Ian Lipkin of Columbia, New York.
The researchers studied the tissues of two victims of the virus, a women in the 24th week of pregnancy and a man of 35. The four month old foetus died along with the mother and was also infected with the virus. Up until now it was not believed that the virus could cross the placenta to the foetus.
Researcher Jiang Gu explains that traces of the virus were also found in the brain, the placenta, the intestine and in the bloods immune system as well as the liver.
This discovery confirms the theory of the so-called “cytokine storm”. Cytokines are proteins emitted by antibodies to fight viruses which infect the body. But if the bodies immune system is hyper-stimulated, an overwhelming swarm of these proteins can be emitted that end up killing the patient. Already in 2005 researchers in Hong Kong found that 24 hours after infection with H5N1 lung cells contain 10 times the normal amount of cytokines produced during a routine influenza. This may explain the number of deaths (over 60%) : it is our immune system which kills us, rather than the virus itself. This effect is similar to what happens in patients infected by Sars.
Moreover the new research has shown that the virus also damaged the immune cells, which suggests that it does not limit itself to over-stimulation of the immune system, but also damages the bodies other functions. Previous studies had shown that the virus succeeds in suppressing the immune system.
The virus has killed 200 of the 328 people infected since 2003, but experts fear that it may mutate, becoming easily transmitted directly from human to human, causing an pandemic which would hit millions.
