Researchers have devised a new test that may be able to improve our immunity against viruses.
Here are 10 facts on the test:
1. Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues can create the history of all viruses that have ever invaded your body for only $25 and a drop of your blood.
2. The innovation can help physicians prepare for viral attacks.
3. If a sufficient number of participants complete the test, it can give information about how viruses spread and evolve.
4. The new test could potentially have helped the MERS outbreak in South Korea by allowing researchers to learn about the spread of the virus.
5. Stephen Elledge, PhD, initially created a library of 100,00 protein fragments which represent sections of approximately 1,000 strains of viruses.
6. The viruses then are able to be recognized by antibodies of the immune system produced on exposure to those viruses.
7. The antibodies therefore stay in your blood for your lifetime and can be tested for with this new innovation.
8. Mr. Elledge tested more than 500 people of all ages in the United States, Thailand, South Africa and Peru and found that people on average had been exposed to 10 virus species in their lives.
9. Of the 500 people tested for viruses, two of those patients yielded results showing they have been exposed to as many as 84 virus species.
10. Although the test is imperfect in that it cannot detect invasion researchers have not yet uncovered, the test is still useful in learning more about viral infections.
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