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Scientists at Montana’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana uncover tricks used by viruses

Scientists at Montana’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories http://www.niaid.nih.gov have made an unexpected discovery about the way one unwelcome family of viruses outsmarts the body’s immune system and makes people sick.

Flaviviruses cause such notable diseases as West Nile, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, a potentially deadly disease spread by ticks.

Like all viruses, flaviviruses are some of the sparsest life forms, carrying around just five more proteins than those needed to make up the tiny organism’s body.

Scientists led by Marshall Bloom, Rocky Mountain Labs’ associate director, recently showed that a flavivirus uses one of its extra proteins to thwart one of the body’s main lines of defense: interferon.

By JENNIFER McKEE Missoulian State Bureau

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/10/15/news/mtregional/news04.txt

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