CDC partners with university to tame bird flu

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are teaming with Purdue University scientists to tame bird flu.

Student scientists and CDC researchers have been working for seven years on a vaccine that protects humans.

They've tested it in mice and found that it can neutralize two strains of the disease. Purdue University professor Suresh Mittal, one of the project's researchers, says they next plan to test it on mutated forms of the virus.

Avian influenza is an infection caused by influenza viruses that naturally occurs among birds. However, 381 human cases that have been confirmed, mostly in Asia, have resulted in 240 deaths.