Thursday, November 03, 2005

More Chickens the Cure for Avian Flu

Today's sign that God enjoys irony.

Today's flu vaccines are prepared in fertilized chicken eggs, a method developed more than 50 years ago. The eggshell is cracked, and the influenza virus is injected into the fluid surrounding the embryo. The egg is resealed, the embryo becomes infected, and the resulting virus is then harvested, purified and used to produce the vaccine. And if you want to supply the U.S. with flu vaccine, you have to break about 100 million.
In order to protect us from the chickens, we need --- more chickens???

Via SciAm

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