It is widely accepted that the flu and the torrent of
uncomfortable symptoms that accompany it should be avoided at all costs.
But some selfless souls have signed up to get the
infection, so one day, perhaps, none of us will ever have to endure it again,
and they are also paid.
Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases are infecting subjects with influenza A (the infamous H1N1
virus, which has caused pandemics) and are closely monitoring their symptoms to
better understand how the virus works and how Control.
For an attractive sum of up to $3,300, 80 adult
participants at four research centers will receive a nasal spray with the virus
and spend at least a week in a hospital for hospitalized patients until they
have stopped "spreading" the virus, it is potentially infecting other
people.
As volunteers cough, agitate, sleep, and tremble,
researchers expect to know how pre-existing flu antibody levels will affect the
duration and severity of participants' flu symptoms.
The study now runs through May (the end of a typical flu
season) at the vaccine research units of the University of Maryland, Baltimore,
the University of Saint Louis Center for Vaccine Development in Missouri, the
University of Duke in North Carolina and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Medical Center in Ohio.
Flu can be fatal
Understanding how the flu works is vital to defeating it:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between
36,400 and 61,200 people died of the flu in the United States between October
2018 and May 2019, and more than half a million people were hospitalized.
Flu can become fatal when other infections are involved,
when it aggravates another health condition, or when there is an overwhelming
immune response to the infection. It is linked to serious complications, such
as pneumonia, heart attack and sepsis.
Although annual flu vaccines are not foolproof
(scientists and doctors can't be sure which strain will reign in each flu
season) are the best way to prevent infection and stop its spread. People
infected with the flu can treat it with antiviral medications that shorten
their duration and severity.
SOURCE: CNN
