:00:50. > :00:55.Every year millions of us are infected by winter virus, colds and
:00:55. > :00:59.flu and stomach bugs like norovirus, which this year has hit early and
:00:59. > :01:04.hard. Hundreds of hospital wards have been closed and if you are one
:01:04. > :01:07.of the million or so affected you know just how unpleasant it can be.
:01:07. > :01:12.In this programme we will be investigating how viruses wreak
:01:12. > :01:17.havoc, and Micheal will be suffering in the name of science to
:01:17. > :01:21.explain runny noses. What do we know about the viruses and how
:01:22. > :01:27.vulnerable are people like the young, elderly and pregnant women
:01:27. > :01:32.like me. What can we do to protect ourselves which are normally
:01:32. > :01:37.routine illnesses. We have been tracking down where this year's
:01:37. > :01:42.viruses are most active. Examining how they spread and hunting them
:01:42. > :01:47.with thermal technology. We set up a little pop-up clinic over there.
:01:47. > :01:52.It is within a stone's throw from some of London's leading reseven
:01:52. > :02:02.centres and hospitals. And experts from those places will be coming
:02:02. > :02:10.
:02:10. > :02:13.Welcome to our pop up lab and studio. We're surrounded which
:02:13. > :02:17.London's medical research institutions but this is the heart
:02:17. > :02:22.of a thriving residential area. About a hundred thousand people
:02:22. > :02:25.come to work within a half-mile radius of where we are. Believe it
:02:25. > :02:31.or not, seven million people visit this shopping centre every year.
:02:31. > :02:36.With so many people around it is the perfect place for kolds, flu
:02:37. > :02:41.and norovirus to spread. Now some of them today will be walking
:02:41. > :02:46.around carrying winter flu viruses. But just how many of them? During
:02:46. > :02:51.winter it is estimated an average 100,000 people a day come down with
:02:51. > :02:55.influenza or flu. The most dangerous of the viruses, which are
:02:55. > :03:00.circulating. We will be inviting everyone who passes our door to
:03:00. > :03:05.come in and be tested for flu. will be reporting on interesting
:03:05. > :03:09.new research into man flu, which will hopefully settle a few
:03:09. > :03:14.arguments. Amongst the first people through the door are a family
:03:14. > :03:20.recovering from a norovirus infection. Hello, do you remember
:03:20. > :03:25.what it was like? I was sick in my room on the floor and all down the
:03:25. > :03:29.stairs and on the walls. Oh blimey, you really did suffer isn't you?
:03:29. > :03:34.didn't know what to do because she was feeling so poorly The norovirus
:03:34. > :03:41.is certainly grabing headlines this year, but there are plenty of cold
:03:41. > :03:46.and flu viruses circulating as well. This professor is one of the
:03:46. > :03:50.country's leading virologists, she's got the latest details on
:03:50. > :03:55.this year's winter virus activity in the UK. We have more and more
:03:55. > :03:58.people arriving to be tested, now what is the situation looking like
:03:58. > :04:05.across the UK with the winter viruss? There's plenty of viruses
:04:05. > :04:09.out there. If we have a look at the map of the UK, the virus most
:04:09. > :04:13.people will have heard of is norovirus, and there's lots of that
:04:13. > :04:17.about, particularly in two regions of the UK, the North-East of
:04:17. > :04:23.England and south-west of laenged. There we've had more ward closures
:04:23. > :04:27.in the hospitals than in any other part of England. What about other
:04:27. > :04:31.viruses flu for instance? There's plenty of flu out there, we have
:04:31. > :04:36.flu virus in the south of England, and also a lot of laboratory
:04:36. > :04:41.confirmed caseness the north of England as well. These are the lab
:04:41. > :04:44.confirmed cases, what about information were GPs? We also
:04:44. > :04:48.collect information about which regions of the country people are
:04:48. > :04:54.going to air GPs and reporting typical symptoms of flu, the coughs,
:04:55. > :04:59.and fevers and axe and pains. There, we've got a lot of those symptoms
:04:59. > :05:04.coming in from Northern Ireland, Wales and West Midlands. Right now
:05:04. > :05:09.there's the area of the UK that is feeling the full impact of the
:05:09. > :05:12.virus. What about Respiratory Syncytial Virus, it's a common
:05:12. > :05:19.virus, but it can be serious in young children, have you
:05:19. > :05:23.information about that? That is nasty in children, it can cause
:05:23. > :05:28.bronchial problems. RSV was around in the winter this year, we peaked
:05:28. > :05:33.out in December, it is on the decline but we are still keeping an
:05:33. > :05:37.eye on it. Millions of us come down with some form of viral infection
:05:37. > :05:41.every winter. Usually it is just an unpleasant inconvenience, but
:05:41. > :05:45.sometimes it can be much more serious.
:05:45. > :05:51.I've come to the university hospital of Wales to find out what
:05:51. > :05:56.they're doing to try and combat the apparently remorseless advance of
:05:56. > :06:02.dangerous winter viruses. The nszness is on high alert of a
:06:02. > :06:07.winter when vulnerable people like the old and very young suffer
:06:07. > :06:17.complications from viral infections. Here in the children's ward the
:06:17. > :06:17.
:06:17. > :06:25.hospital is experiencing a surge in RSV. There's no vaccine against it
:06:25. > :06:33.and no effective medicine. Hello there. How is he doing? He is fine
:06:33. > :06:39.thank you. Who is this? This is Tigh four weeks old and was
:06:39. > :06:44.admitted yesterday, he has Bronx kite tus, in small babies they
:06:44. > :06:47.present with coughing, breathlessness, fast rapid
:06:47. > :06:51.breathing and often what brings someone to hospital is they're not
:06:51. > :06:58.able to feed properly. He is breathing rapidly at the moment,
:06:58. > :07:02.isn't sne Yes.. How do you treat? Unfortunately there's no specific
:07:02. > :07:09.viral treatment. Giving him extra oxygen, and also, helping him with
:07:09. > :07:15.his feeds, if he isn't able to take a bottle, we put a tube in his nose
:07:15. > :07:25.and give him milk in his stomach that way. Not disturbing them is
:07:25. > :07:29.
:07:29. > :07:34.the best way. RSV piqueed in December, with a lot of children
:07:34. > :07:38.under one. There's usually an epidemic every year, but this year
:07:38. > :07:44.we're seeing a lot. You have no idea whether you'll continue to see
:07:44. > :07:50.a lot or not? No every year was different. When I was a child efpb
:07:50. > :07:55.had measles, I hope one day we'll are vaccines against things like
:07:55. > :08:02.that. But at the moment, lots more work to do in the labs. There may
:08:02. > :08:12.not be a cure for RSV. But there is a defence, early warning hospital
:08:12. > :08:15.
:08:15. > :08:20.labs, including Cardiff. Dr Catherine Moore is based in the
:08:20. > :08:23.hospital. What is happening? We are seeing a lot of norovirus which is
:08:23. > :08:29.unusual because the levels are higher than they have been in
:08:29. > :08:32.previous win ders. So there's lots of norovirus testing going on. It
:08:32. > :08:36.tends to close downwards and you have problems in nursing homes. So
:08:36. > :08:40.knowing it is circulating and how much the virus is circulating and
:08:40. > :08:46.whether you can reopen wards, for example is it important, so we're
:08:46. > :08:50.testing for that at the minute. Cardiff is one of the UK's centre
:08:50. > :08:55.hospitals, gathering data about outbreaks across the country.
:08:55. > :09:00.we've done across the UK is we have a network of GPs and surgeries, who
:09:00. > :09:04.will take swabs and what they do is send them to us, and we'll look to
:09:04. > :09:09.see what the viruss are in the community, which the patients are
:09:09. > :09:13.going to their GP for. We do all this now through real time
:09:13. > :09:20.techniques, so we're more rapid and we get test requests because we're
:09:20. > :09:27.able to offer the clinician a faster result than we used to.
:09:27. > :09:35.with all viruses a rapid diagnosis, helps with control. I find it
:09:35. > :09:39.exciting. It is the molecular revolution in biology. Helicopters
:09:39. > :09:44.like Cardiff use state-of-the-art equipment. But how might you be
:09:44. > :09:48.able to tell if you have something more serious than a cold. The local
:09:48. > :09:53.pharmacist is telling us that she's seeing a lot of people coming in,
:09:53. > :09:57.who say "I got the flu" but she thinks they have a cold. How do you
:09:57. > :10:00.tell the difference. Let me show you using this, which is a they
:10:00. > :10:07.were graphic camera and brave volunteer, Rachel here. I'm going
:10:07. > :10:11.to show you, now if you look there, can you see yourself, not the most
:10:11. > :10:18.flattering picture. The white bit is your skin temperature, which is
:10:18. > :10:23.hot, about 36.5. Your nose is bright purple, which, yeah,
:10:23. > :10:29.suggests it is around 32 degrees. The common cold virus, likes the
:10:29. > :10:35.cool, it will confine itself to the nose, but the influenza virus are
:10:35. > :10:41.tougher, and can go to core temperatures, and infect your lungs,
:10:41. > :10:45.and that will make you feel ill. The main thing you can tell if you
:10:46. > :10:50.have a cold or flu is taking your temperature, if above 38 degrees,
:10:50. > :10:54.you have the flu, below that you probably got a cold. Thank you very
:10:54. > :10:59.much. 6 Some countries are now using
:10:59. > :11:04.thermal cameras in airports to detect passengers with fevers.
:11:04. > :11:09.We're using the same idea to find people who will bring into our lab,
:11:09. > :11:18.for a more scientific swab test. The dip stick detects anyone infect
:11:18. > :11:27.with the this year's most common types of flu. We talked a little
:11:27. > :11:32.bit about how viruses affect us but what is it? Virus is a tiny
:11:32. > :11:36.microbiology enterities, they are in the family of my cobs, the
:11:36. > :11:40.bacteria are the fungi, but they are the smallest of all of those.
:11:41. > :11:44.Viruses are so small, we measure them in nanometres which is a
:11:44. > :11:49.thousand of a thousandth of a millimetre. If you think of my
:11:49. > :11:56.thumb nail of a centimetre across, if I lined up a bunch of flu
:11:56. > :12:02.viruses along the thumb nail, I could get 100,000 viruses, if we
:12:02. > :12:08.look at the lovely model we have. lovely glass model? It is very easy
:12:08. > :12:13.to explain what a virus is using this model. What you can see inside
:12:13. > :12:17.is the genetic material, the whole point of a virus is maintain this
:12:18. > :12:23.genetic material, to be able to replicate it in a cell host and
:12:24. > :12:29.make more of it. Unlike many bacteria, viruses can't multiply or
:12:29. > :12:35.survive without a living creature. But they've evolved clever ways of
:12:35. > :12:40.using host cells. The spikes on the outside of this virus are proteins,
:12:40. > :12:50.which act like keys. By finding a natural lock on the surface of a
:12:50. > :12:55.host cell, which matches its keys the virus can trick itself in. Once
:12:55. > :13:00.inside the cell the virus bursts and releases the genetic material
:13:00. > :13:05.in its core which holds information for making new viruses. In genetic
:13:05. > :13:10.material enters the cell's nucleus and high jacks its machinery,
:13:10. > :13:17.coning it into making thousands of new viruses instead. The cell fills
:13:17. > :13:24.with virus particles until it ruptures and army of dup plicate
:13:24. > :13:31.viruses marches out and the process begins againful There seems to be a
:13:31. > :13:36.range of effect that these viruses wreak upon us? Yes. When he get
:13:36. > :13:40.influenza or cold virus we have a mild disease, it is unpleasant and
:13:40. > :13:45.inconvenient but in two or three days we're feeling better and we
:13:45. > :13:47.can get back to normal life. But for some people it can lead to
:13:47. > :13:53.something more serious, hospital sedation or even fatality.
:13:53. > :13:59.So how does the body react to fight off the invasion of a virus?
:13:59. > :14:05.nose is a gateway to the body but one of the first lines of defence.
:14:05. > :14:14.We're going to look at the differences of a nasal cafity of a
:14:14. > :14:19.healthy person and that of a virus sufferer.
:14:19. > :14:24.Here we have a ear nose and throat surgeon, he is based at University
:14:24. > :14:34.College Hospital but he is here today to look at some hopefully
:14:34. > :14:34.
:14:34. > :14:39.normal nasal passages. I'm going to look in your nose. So, just in the
:14:39. > :14:47.right nostril, the first thing you see when you go in there, to the
:14:47. > :14:57.right, you see the septum. This is looking nicely? Pale pink, you
:14:57. > :15:00.
:15:01. > :15:06.can't see mousse cuss around. There's no is not in there. It is
:15:06. > :15:11.wonderful living anatomy thank you very much. The lining of a healthy
:15:11. > :15:18.nasal cafity is pink with clean open passages which the air can
:15:18. > :15:22.move freely. But what about the one fighting a winter virus. This is
:15:22. > :15:28.Philip who kindly offered his nose this afternoon. Philip thinks he's
:15:28. > :15:34.got a cold. He has had a sore throat and sniffle for the last
:15:34. > :15:41.couple of days. Gooey things are looking different in Philip's nose.
:15:41. > :15:50.Very congested, this is the left side. Things look far more moist.
:15:50. > :15:56.You see elements of pussy material, you see the top left there. That's
:15:56. > :16:00.foul. When you say mucus, that's is not. It is made by cells in the
:16:01. > :16:05.lining of the nasal caf vit, it helps trap particles and keep them
:16:05. > :16:09.out of the lungs. What about blowing noses is that a good
:16:09. > :16:14.instinction? It allows you to breathe better, but doesn't
:16:14. > :16:19.actually shorten the life span of the infection. It is systematic.
:16:19. > :16:28.makes you feel more comfortable. Unlike Micheal's pink lining,
:16:28. > :16:34.Philip's is red and puffy and same Right, are you OK. We're just gone
:16:34. > :16:39.to the back of your nose now, 10 centimetre in. You can see on the
:16:39. > :16:44.right there, it is red and inflameed there, as opposed to the
:16:44. > :16:49.left. Do you feel like you have a sore throat. You can see the mucus
:16:49. > :16:53.hanging around, see that material? You can see it dripping down the
:16:53. > :16:59.back wall. That's come from the nose, that's inflamed. What causes
:16:59. > :17:04.this inflammation, when you get a cold? It is an immune response, you
:17:04. > :17:09.get white cells move in and it is part of the body's defence against
:17:09. > :17:16.it. It looks pinker, because you have the wider blood vessels
:17:16. > :17:26.bringing the blood in the area. Do you think we ought to let Philip go.
:17:26. > :17:31.
:17:31. > :17:39.Thank you. You should have a round Viruss are clever, they high jeck
:17:39. > :17:43.our cellar machinery, tricking cells making into most of their
:17:43. > :17:50.cells. They help you see spread things to another people. It
:17:50. > :18:00.irritates our noses and throat, so we cough and snees, forcing the
:18:00. > :18:06.
:18:06. > :18:10.virus-containing droplets. Can we We gave passing volunteers,
:18:10. > :18:15.tweezers, pepper and other things to tickle the nose. We found it is
:18:15. > :18:25.hard to cause a sneeze. It is not something our bodies do often,
:18:25. > :18:31.
:18:31. > :18:37.which proves how clever viruses are. But eventually... We saw droplets
:18:37. > :18:42.fly. Apparently the average cold sufferer's sneeze spreads more than
:18:43. > :18:47.a metre and holds around 100,000 virus particles. Multiply that by
:18:47. > :18:53.all the sufferers around the country, and you have trillions of
:18:53. > :18:59.viruses spread around. Respiratory viruses spread around via coughs
:18:59. > :19:09.and sneezes but viruses that effect our guts have to be transmitted by
:19:09. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:15.something altogether more violent I've come to Derbyshire on a
:19:15. > :19:20.bitterly cold morning to visit the health and safety laboratory, which
:19:20. > :19:27.is just down there and to meet vomiting Larry, more of the unusual
:19:27. > :19:31.weapons we have against one of Britain's commonest winter
:19:31. > :19:38.illnesses norovirus. This winter there have been over 70% more cases
:19:38. > :19:45.of this vomiting bug than last year. Temperature and headache hit within
:19:45. > :19:51.12 hours of infection, often with projeck tile vomiting. Up to eight
:19:51. > :19:56.million of us are carrying this virus at any time. What it does is
:19:56. > :20:02.hijacks the body's normal mechanisms T infects the small
:20:02. > :20:08.intestine, and makes you produce profuse vom hit and die rea. Why
:20:08. > :20:14.would a virus do that, then it gets out tht world, infects in other
:20:14. > :20:20.people and gets to live and thrive. Vomiting Larry has been designed to
:20:20. > :20:25.investigate the spread of norovirus. It is hoped it will control the
:20:25. > :20:30.infection in hospital wards across the country. Hi Catherine. Now I
:20:30. > :20:35.know one of the characteristics of norovirus is you get the projeck
:20:35. > :20:44.tile vomiting, what's the mechanism? You don't get the
:20:44. > :20:49.retching, so you can be stood up with you have an inhalation of
:20:49. > :20:53.breath, and collectively all the abdominal muscles push together to
:20:53. > :20:59.increase pressure, which forces the fluid out of the mouth. And then
:20:59. > :21:05.you go like that. Just like that. This is what Larry does You have
:21:05. > :21:15.fluid in here and pisson push it is up and out of Larry's mouth.
:21:15. > :21:23.
:21:23. > :21:27.would love Larry in action. You may People with this virus, they have
:21:27. > :21:33.seconds to react. The liquid contains water with a marker, so
:21:33. > :21:38.that when we turn the lights off and put UV lights on, we can see
:21:38. > :21:48.how far it travelled and see the smallest splashes. Time to turn out
:21:48. > :21:56.
:21:57. > :22:01.Vomiting spreads far more virus than either a cough or sneeze. Each
:22:01. > :22:09.time you throw up about a billion norovirus particles are released.
:22:09. > :22:15.Here, under UV lights we can see how far this virus can travel. The
:22:15. > :22:23.floor is divided into squares of 0 Kent metres, showing the vomit has
:22:23. > :22:29.spread three metres, forwards and sideways. That was impressive, he
:22:29. > :22:35.lived up to his name, he spewed out. We will turn on normal lights and
:22:35. > :22:45.clean up the mess and afterwards, we'll turn the UV light back on and
:22:45. > :22:48.
:22:48. > :22:55.Anyone cleaning up norovirus vomit or being near somebody sick, risks
:22:55. > :23:05.infection by picking up the virus on their hands. It can be inhaled,
:23:05. > :23:05.
:23:05. > :23:10.tiny particles are stirred up as you clean. I think I've done a
:23:10. > :23:15.reasonable job. If I've missed anything, it means live virus would
:23:15. > :23:21.be left lying around, waiting to re-infected. I can't see obvious
:23:21. > :23:28.stuff, but let's turn off the lights and we'll see. Oh not so
:23:28. > :23:33.good. There's droplets there, I did not see. One of the droplets there,
:23:33. > :23:41.a few million viruses in it? Potentially, yes. How long would
:23:41. > :23:50.they five for? Potentially for 12 days. Impressive. What about me? I
:23:50. > :23:54.can't see anything on me. I will wash my hands. Definitely
:23:54. > :23:59.contaminated, Micheal. There's a lot on your hand. I can see equally,
:23:59. > :24:03.if you got it on your hand, you're likely to stick them in your mouth
:24:03. > :24:09.at some point. I think I'll have to get washed up.
:24:09. > :24:16.I can appreciate now, just how far virus particles can spread. And how
:24:16. > :24:20.challenging cleaning up can be. Norovirus is really good at
:24:20. > :24:25.spreading itself around and once it's in place, it is almost
:24:25. > :24:30.impossible to kill. All you can do if you meet somebody who is
:24:30. > :24:40.infected, is wash your hands again, and again, and there is no point in
:24:40. > :24:45.
:24:45. > :24:50.using alcohol wipes. Because Professor Ian, studies the
:24:50. > :24:55.neurobiology on the norovirus and expert on its spread. Your research
:24:55. > :24:59.is on norovirus and it is in the headlines a lot this year, why has
:24:59. > :25:05.it been so bad? Well, this year's been a particularly unusual year
:25:05. > :25:09.for norovirus activity. What we found is the virus appears to be
:25:09. > :25:14.circulating more. What you can see here on the graph, you can see last
:25:14. > :25:20.year, we didn't see ain crease in activity until November. This year,
:25:20. > :25:28.we saw an increase in activity in October. Right back there, yeah.
:25:28. > :25:33.This massive peak in December, it is coming down, is that real?
:25:33. > :25:40.difficult to say at this time of year. Over the Christmas period,
:25:40. > :25:44.you find a lot less cases reported, but it will increase. What do you
:25:45. > :25:50.think why it seems to be getting worse this year? One of the reasons
:25:50. > :26:00.is there's a new virus identified, and this was found in Sydney in
:26:00. > :26:00.
:26:01. > :26:06.2012, it is found in Sydney Australia, and in it is spread
:26:06. > :26:10.worldwide, it is mutateed it is not recognised by people's immune
:26:10. > :26:15.system which means it is susceptible. It is a nasty virus,
:26:15. > :26:19.what can everybody do it protect themselves? It is difficult one. It
:26:19. > :26:23.is clear, good hygiene is important. You need to be careful making sure
:26:23. > :26:30.your hands are washed properly. People don't wash their hands long
:26:30. > :26:34.enough, so make sure you do that. If you know you have the virus,
:26:34. > :26:42.show responsibility, so if you are infectious, don't go to work, don't
:26:42. > :26:45.send your children to school. This would limit norovirus outbreaks.
:26:45. > :26:50.Winter viruses thrive when we're huddled together coughing and
:26:50. > :26:54.sneezing over each other, and they persist longer outside the body in
:26:54. > :27:00.the cold, so they have a better chance to spreading from one host
:27:00. > :27:06.to another. How do they get inside our bodies, that's through the our
:27:06. > :27:16.faces our mouths, nostrils and tear ducts. If you pick up a virus on
:27:16. > :27:21.
:27:21. > :27:26.your hand and then touch your face, We all do it, so what can we do to
:27:26. > :27:30.stop ourselves? In a number of other countries, you see on the
:27:30. > :27:36.public transport system wearing these. Now I've always been cynical
:27:36. > :27:40.as to whether this does any good but it turns out it does. You're
:27:40. > :27:45.probably thinking I put this on and that blocks the viruses from
:27:45. > :27:50.getting into your nose, it doesn't do that at all. What happens is
:27:50. > :27:57.when you wear one of these, when you have the virus on the fingertip,
:27:57. > :28:07.you don't shove it up your nose. Can I persuade busy commuters, to
:28:07. > :28:09.
:28:09. > :28:19.have a new friend. Fancy a face mask? Would you like a face mask?
:28:19. > :28:27.No. Now surely you're interested? No. I would guess that about 30
:28:27. > :28:31.people have gone past and not a single taker. Can I persuade
:28:31. > :28:36.anybody, face mask? Well London commuters are not interested in
:28:36. > :28:46.trying to stop viruses spreading around. But if this crowd was hard
:28:46. > :28:49.
:28:49. > :28:55.then there's less chance with the They may look adorable but young
:28:55. > :28:59.children are a health hazard. They get six to eight colds every year,
:28:59. > :29:07.twice as many as an adult and share them around. They're a primary
:29:07. > :29:14.driver of infection, in had our community. Why is that? I've come
:29:14. > :29:21.to a primary school in Bristol to meet up virologist professionor,
:29:21. > :29:28.and together we're going to do an experiment to show that viruses
:29:28. > :29:32.love children. This professor is using a gel with particles, to see
:29:32. > :29:37.if one child had brought the infection in skoofplt which
:29:37. > :29:42.watching how the gel is moving around, we should see how viruses
:29:42. > :29:49.are transferred. Normally invisible this gel can only be seen under UV
:29:49. > :29:54.light. So this is to mimic a sneeze. You get a define spray, the
:29:54. > :29:59.particles, are small, that's exactly what we want. It should be
:29:59. > :30:04.mimicking how a virus will move around. Once we're finished we will
:30:04. > :30:10.see where the material has gone and who it's gone on to. Are you
:30:10. > :30:20.confident? I'm sure. I'm sure the children won't disappoint. Look at
:30:20. > :30:27.
:30:27. > :30:36.What we've done in the classroom is to seat two or three specific areas.
:30:36. > :30:40.We've seated this desk here with spray and gel. And here in the same
:30:40. > :30:45.way. In this area here where the children keep some play things,
:30:45. > :30:54.toys, and various things we'll expect they'll be using later in
:30:54. > :31:03.the day. Andrew and I will watch the children on a monitor as they
:31:03. > :31:09.go about their daily routine. Schoolchildren are key spreaders of
:31:09. > :31:13.infection, partly because they're so vulnerable to illnesses. Very
:31:13. > :31:18.young children have immature immune system so they can't fight off
:31:18. > :31:24.infections as easily as they can when they're older, so there's
:31:24. > :31:31.opportunity for viruses to get in and replicate efficiently. They can
:31:31. > :31:34.replicate themselves when they touch mouths, eyes and noses, all
:31:34. > :31:39.primary infection routes for respiratory viruses. If one chews
:31:39. > :31:43.the end of a pen and share it, and the other person will chew it, or
:31:43. > :31:47.move it around their face, then actually you can see social contact
:31:47. > :31:52.the properly They're so close. long will viruses survive on
:31:52. > :31:59.something like that? That fabric up to eight hours. Which is a long
:31:59. > :32:06.time. She looks so innocent, doesn't she. We saw you. There we
:32:06. > :32:13.go, a good one. Throughout the day we've seen the
:32:13. > :32:17.gel to represent what would happen if an infected child was sneezing
:32:17. > :32:21.or coughing. Children are very tact tile they like to touch and feel
:32:21. > :32:26.things a lot and touch each other frequently. They don't feel the
:32:26. > :32:32.same social pressures. They're not as inhicted as adults are. They
:32:32. > :32:36.interact in large social groups and they're tact tile when they do so.
:32:36. > :32:41.You have one touching her face there. They touch their faces and
:32:41. > :32:47.noses and eyes, frequently. It is astonishing, when you think about
:32:47. > :32:54.it. You can see there. Wipeed his nose and then he might put that
:32:54. > :32:59.down, some other kid will pick it up. There we go, he hand it had to
:32:59. > :33:06.another child. We can hear coughs and sneezes as we're here, and they
:33:06. > :33:11.will be spreading infection. can appreciate when you look at the
:33:12. > :33:15.scenarios, it is impossible to control? Completely. Apart from
:33:15. > :33:21.giving them their own Lego set, there's nothing much you can do?
:33:21. > :33:28.That's right. Viruses are very successful. They have found all the
:33:28. > :33:35.opportunities. For six hours the And at the end of the school day,
:33:35. > :33:39.we black out the windows to see how much of the classroom has been
:33:39. > :33:44.contaminated. Here we are in the crime scene, and
:33:44. > :33:50.the major criminals have fled. What do you see here then? First, very
:33:50. > :33:55.obvious thing is that we don't have much of droplet spray left. We have
:33:55. > :33:59.smeared surface here. You can see smears on the paper and marks on
:33:59. > :34:05.the table here, where we didn't have any material. We sprayed some
:34:05. > :34:11.of the toys. This one, I think we can see immediately. Viruses like
:34:11. > :34:17.the plastic surface? That's right. This hard non-absorbant material,
:34:17. > :34:21.they'll exist in a viable state for sometime. If we look at some of
:34:21. > :34:26.this, it is not droplets, it is snaered so children have been
:34:26. > :34:33.playing with this, it is now on me. It is infectious little thing.
:34:33. > :34:37.is on both sides, that's true for, yeah, there we go. It shows how
:34:37. > :34:42.easily it is for the stuff to be spread around. It is not just a
:34:42. > :34:52.classroom that is covered in our virus gel.
:34:52. > :34:53.
:34:53. > :35:00.We welcome the children back for our reveal. They're wearing glasses
:35:00. > :35:04.to protect them from the UV lights. We will see how much spray you will
:35:04. > :35:14.spread around here. It doesn't do anything to you. We will do the
:35:14. > :35:31.
:35:31. > :35:41.countdown, five, four, three, two, You've got around the nose. I have
:35:41. > :35:42.
:35:42. > :35:49.it all over my scarf. Even teach chaers get it. It is basically got
:35:49. > :35:55.everywhere. You see it up the nose, on the face. I think it's worked
:35:55. > :36:05.very well, probably too well. This little girl here has got it
:36:05. > :36:08.
:36:08. > :36:12.That was Kay on theic, but it was dramatic, I have to say. The things
:36:12. > :36:18.I noticed was they got it all over themselves, face, hair noses, what
:36:18. > :36:22.did you get from it? We tried to mimic situations that it was one
:36:22. > :36:27.child that was infected, so at the end there was self-children who had
:36:27. > :36:31.picked up this material, so it demonstrates the spread is very
:36:31. > :36:36.efficient and effective. And now, they're going to go out there in
:36:36. > :36:46.the community back to their loving families and take virus with them?
:36:46. > :36:46.
:36:46. > :36:52.And anyone else they come across. Wendy, it seems children are
:36:52. > :36:56.incredibly important when it comes to spreading viruses? Pandemic of
:36:56. > :37:00.2009, we have good evidence how good children were in spreading the
:37:00. > :37:04.outbreak. We had the virus introduced to us in early
:37:04. > :37:09.springtime. The numbers of people getting sick went up and up steeply,
:37:09. > :37:12.during the early part of the summer. Then all of a sudden there was a
:37:12. > :37:17.decline in case numbers, that absolutely coincided with the
:37:17. > :37:21.school holidays when all the children went home and stopped
:37:21. > :37:27.mixing up their viruses. In September the numbers start rising
:37:27. > :37:33.again as they come back to school. Here at our popup studio there's a
:37:33. > :37:37.constant queue of people want ago flu test, but so far no-one has
:37:37. > :37:42.tested positive. We've found a string of common colds. However
:37:42. > :37:50.this gentleman has just come back from the United States, and he's
:37:50. > :37:59.feeling terrible, under the weather, he's reporting what sounds like
:37:59. > :38:05.flu-like symptoms. Fever, chills, nose. Generally feeling poorly.
:38:05. > :38:11.There are two main types of flu virus, A and B. Having swabed the
:38:11. > :38:17.nostrils, it takes ten minutes to get the answer. Here are our result,
:38:17. > :38:23.there's a pink line, which actually indicates to us you have some
:38:23. > :38:27.antigens present of influenza A. So you flight have. That's a surprise.
:38:27. > :38:34.Which is probably why you're feeling unwell. Best advice is rest,
:38:34. > :38:39.lots of fluids, and if you're still feeling poorly, go and see your GP.
:38:39. > :38:43.Thank you very much. Andrew probably picked up the infection in
:38:43. > :38:52.the United States, where he was suffering a major outbreak of this
:38:52. > :39:02.type of flu. We take the fight against flu seriously, because it
:39:02. > :39:02.
:39:02. > :39:07.can have devastating consequences. The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918
:39:07. > :39:13.affected 30% of the world's population and killed 50 million
:39:13. > :39:17.people. Three pan democratics followed, the Asian flu caused two
:39:17. > :39:24.million deaths, a decade later, Hong Kong flu killed an estimated
:39:24. > :39:30.one million people. The last major pandemic, swine flu, emerged in
:39:30. > :39:37.Mexico in 2009 and spread around the world. Swine flu is in 74
:39:37. > :39:43.countries. In the last week the number of cases tripled to over 100.
:39:43. > :39:50.In this country... By the time the pandemic had run its course, it
:39:50. > :39:55.affected one billion people and killed 300,000. Why was swine flu
:39:55. > :40:00.so widespread, what was it about it that made it take off? It was a
:40:00. > :40:04.pandemic and new virus that came in from an animal source and nobody
:40:04. > :40:08.was immune before that time so it was quicker to spread from person
:40:08. > :40:15.to person. We estimate that at least half of us actually caught
:40:15. > :40:21.swine flu in 2009 or 2010. It seems extraordinary that half of us in
:40:21. > :40:25.the UK had the infection? In some regions higher, up to 70% of people
:40:25. > :40:30.in London or Birmingham were carrying antibodies by the spring
:40:30. > :40:36.of 2010. Flu is potentially dangerous because it regularly
:40:36. > :40:39.makes jumps from animals into humans. And when that happens we're
:40:39. > :40:48.extremely vulnerable to mass infections. Micheal's been to
:40:48. > :40:53.Surrey to find out more. This is the governance animal and health
:40:53. > :41:03.veterinary laboratory, where this they monitor farm animals of
:41:03. > :41:03.
:41:03. > :41:10.diseases which could spread to humans. Hi Ian. What's the link
:41:10. > :41:14.with winter viruses. The ries Vlore reservoir is in birds, they're
:41:14. > :41:22.efficient hosts in which it reached a balance of the host and doesn't
:41:22. > :41:31.cause indue effect on the bird but it producesds a large amount of
:41:31. > :41:34.viruses. Flu viruses can pass from wild birds to farm birds, and other
:41:34. > :41:40.to animals. Anything that contains contaminated faeces, they can get
:41:40. > :41:45.into a pig barn, either through someone's footwear or contaminated
:41:45. > :41:51.water, can introduce the virus. Pigs get flu the same as us. They
:41:51. > :41:55.get respiratory infection and get sick and have a fever, so no
:41:55. > :42:01.differences. They take to bed and demand Lib Dem ship. You give them
:42:01. > :42:07.warm beding and keep them nice. Viruses from infected birds and
:42:07. > :42:15.pigs can be transferred to humans the same way we catch flu from each
:42:15. > :42:20.other. Through sneezes and infected droplets. That jump is a relevantly
:42:20. > :42:28.rare event, it is not that easy moved from a pig to a human.
:42:28. > :42:33.same thing if I sneeze on the pig. The virus with the pandemic, spread
:42:33. > :42:38.to pigs through contacted people. The reason the new bird and swine
:42:38. > :42:44.flus are so dangerous to humans is that we have no resistance to them.
:42:44. > :42:49.An outbreak could infect millions of us and be lethal. Ian's
:42:49. > :42:53.laboratory is our first line of defence.
:42:53. > :42:58.They're constantly on guard, ready to sound the alarm at the first
:42:58. > :43:02.sound of danger. They get samples of anything suspicious from farms
:43:02. > :43:07.around the country. The first thing we have to do is make a liquid
:43:07. > :43:11.extract and take that liquid preparation and we inject it in an
:43:11. > :43:16.egg. We use these because they're good environment for growing the
:43:16. > :43:21.virus, they're rich in cell types to grow the virus, and then can he
:43:21. > :43:28.with look the virus and analyse it and look at the chrkstx. What
:43:28. > :43:35.happens if you see something nasty? If it is a outbreak from UK poultry,
:43:35. > :43:43.it means there will be a immediate response at Government level to
:43:43. > :43:47.control the outbreak, there's stages to limit and protect UK
:43:47. > :43:52.livestock sector and public health. His lab is one of many monitoring
:43:52. > :43:57.animals for new outbreaks. Where are the hot spots at the moment
:43:57. > :44:02.Wherever you have large number of people, pigs and poultry, reared in
:44:02. > :44:06.an outdoor system, there's greater likelihood the virus can move
:44:06. > :44:10.between different populations. That's south-east Asia.
:44:10. > :44:15.particularly Asia? It is mainly because we have a system where they
:44:15. > :44:20.produce birds and trade and market them in a way that's never been
:44:20. > :44:24.seen before. So, we have frenzied activity in the markets, people are
:44:24. > :44:30.coming and going with birds, moving birds in different vehicles, a lot
:44:30. > :44:33.of contact with the people and birds, so these are perfect
:44:33. > :44:39.environments for spreading perpetuateing virus. How would it
:44:39. > :44:44.get from China here? With global travel, if you are talking with
:44:44. > :44:49.human contact, a person can jump on a plane and be on the other side of
:44:49. > :44:55.the world in no time. Where do you think the next influenza outbreak
:44:55. > :45:00.will come from? It may not come out of a pig, a bird, or could happen
:45:00. > :45:07.in a human as well. We don't know what the pathways, but we know
:45:07. > :45:14.there is more than one pathway. won't shake your hand, I may go and
:45:14. > :45:19.wash them. Thank you very much. There's no sign of any dangerous
:45:19. > :45:25.new flu strains this winter. But more familiar strains are making
:45:25. > :45:29.their presence felt. Wendy what do we know about the way flu is
:45:29. > :45:33.affecting us in the UK this year? Data collected by the Health
:45:33. > :45:37.Protection Agency, shows us that flu season kicked off on December
:45:37. > :45:42.17th this year, which is a late start. Every flu season is
:45:42. > :45:46.different, but that's late for it to get going. How can you say the
:45:46. > :45:51.season kicked off? That's when we see numbers confirmed in the
:45:51. > :45:56.laboratory, people go to GPs and in hospital with flu-like symptoms are
:45:56. > :46:00.infected with the virus. As usual, we Ceylon lone is the hot spot,
:46:00. > :46:04.early warning signal, place where the virus is establishing first and
:46:04. > :46:08.spreading out to the kest of the country. That's because of the
:46:08. > :46:13.denseity of people? Much more likely to bump into a person with
:46:13. > :46:18.the virus in the city. In the south of England, there's more of the
:46:18. > :46:22.influenza type B virus, causing flu illness, in the north of England,
:46:22. > :46:27.we have predominance of type A virus. What are the differences
:46:28. > :46:32.between the two types of virus? Well they're both influenza viruses
:46:32. > :46:39.and look very similar, but one important difference between them
:46:39. > :46:45.is that influenza B virus is a virus which infects only humans,
:46:45. > :46:50.which A can infect animals and people. That's the reason why when
:46:50. > :46:55.we get pandemics, it is always A, because it is when we have a jump
:46:55. > :47:00.from animals into humans, causing a new outbreak. Is this a pattern
:47:00. > :47:06.that happens again and again, flu in animals to flu in humans and
:47:06. > :47:16.that produces a pandemic, massive outbreak but returns as a winter
:47:16. > :47:16.
:47:16. > :47:21.epidemic? Absolutely. The influenza A virus, the H3N2 virus, causing
:47:21. > :47:26.the Hong Kong flu, but it is with us, coming back year on year in an
:47:26. > :47:29.altered form. One step ahead of the antibody response and still
:47:29. > :47:36.managing to circulate in people. Although viruses are constantly
:47:36. > :47:40.changing, we too have a trick up our sleeve. We and our ancestors
:47:41. > :47:46.have been fighting viruses for millions of years, so our immune
:47:46. > :47:51.systems are well evolved to cope. When a virus enters the body the
:47:51. > :47:56.first line of defence involves special proteins which recognise
:47:56. > :48:01.the invadeers and mount an attack, with weapons like our own anti-
:48:01. > :48:07.viral chemicals as well as raising the body's temperature giving us a
:48:07. > :48:13.fever. The next line of defence involves a special type of white
:48:13. > :48:18.blood cell which produces antibodies. Antibodies recognise
:48:18. > :48:24.specific surface markings on viruses and mount a targeted attack
:48:24. > :48:29.on that virus. Once antibody- producing cells have been
:48:29. > :48:35.activevated they stick around as memory cells. You now have
:48:35. > :48:40.immuneity, you're prearmed if the same virus attacks you again. Now
:48:40. > :48:46.the swab test we're doing here tests for virus itself. But how do
:48:46. > :48:53.we know if we're immune? How do we know if we've got antibodies? We
:48:53. > :49:01.know that the memory cells produces antibodies endure. They continue to
:49:01. > :49:05.give us immunity to infection. Micheal has gone to meet Professor
:49:05. > :49:10.John Oxx Ford to see what he can learn about his own antibodies.
:49:10. > :49:18.John will test Micheal's bloods for the presence of specific antibodies
:49:18. > :49:22.to this season's flu strains. We've got blood from you before
:49:23. > :49:27.Christmas and after Christmas, if you've been infected, heaven's
:49:27. > :49:32.forbid, during the Christmas time, we will pick up an increase in
:49:32. > :49:39.antibody. You should tell, over the period when I thought I was having
:49:39. > :49:43.a hangover, I had flu? Yes.. If you have been infected over the last
:49:43. > :49:48.weeks, we will see increase in antibodies to one particular virus.
:49:48. > :49:53.So this actually holds the antibodies pretty well to every
:49:53. > :50:02.infection I've had? Yes. We've taken your serum here. Now what
:50:02. > :50:09.we're going to do is add virus to this plate. So the moment of truth.
:50:09. > :50:16.It is all to do with the number and precise type of antibodies in my
:50:16. > :50:23.blood. If I don't have antibodies to this year's flu the Wells will
:50:23. > :50:28.remain pink, look they are. Do you want to read your own
:50:28. > :50:36.results? I would have said on the basis of this, I haven't had the
:50:36. > :50:40.flu this Christmas. I would agree with it. - you. It looks like I
:50:40. > :50:44.wasn't infected with flu over Christmas? What if I did have the
:50:44. > :50:49.antibodies, what protection could they provide? So imagine last year
:50:49. > :50:55.I got the flu, I went through all that, I recovered, this year the
:50:55. > :50:59.same flu virus is circulating, I get exposed to it again? You're in
:50:59. > :51:02.a happy situation, you are fully prepared, you got antibodies, they
:51:02. > :51:07.will be floating around and immediately they see your virus
:51:07. > :51:12.they will latch on it, they'll stiffen on the outside so
:51:12. > :51:17.immobilise the virus, you won't recognise you are infected. This is
:51:17. > :51:23.what happens with most virus infections. A few hours, the battle
:51:23. > :51:26.takes place and you weren't aware you were exposed? Yeah. The body
:51:26. > :51:30.producesds antibodies in response to be infected with the virus, and
:51:30. > :51:35.this is also the way that vaccination works. If we can show
:51:36. > :51:42.the body a virus, or even just a part of a virus, then we can
:51:42. > :51:48.elitity the same antibody response. Vaccines are very powerful weapons
:51:48. > :51:52.in our battle with viruses. Flu vaccines are made from fragments of
:51:52. > :51:58.viruses which trick our immune systems into reacting as if they
:51:58. > :52:02.are under attack. The result is that we get all the
:52:02. > :52:11.antibody protection we need w but none of the pain.
:52:11. > :52:17.So how do you turn a virus into a vaccine? Let's go in the cell
:52:17. > :52:21.culture lab here and I have a virus. I get this ugly thing is the virus.
:52:21. > :52:27.Are viruses really this big? This is hike billions of times bigger
:52:27. > :52:32.than the flu. To a flu, you get 10,000 of them on a pin's head.
:52:32. > :52:39.do you equate a vaccine against something like this? It is not so
:52:39. > :52:46.difficult to make a vaix serene, you split the protein. The green,
:52:46. > :52:51.is called H and then there's this which is N, you cut them off the
:52:52. > :52:56.virus. Once the virus spikes are cut off, they are progressed and
:52:56. > :53:00.used to make the vaccine. Because they are dead they can't make you
:53:00. > :53:05.ill but trigger the immune system to produce antibodies, giving
:53:05. > :53:14.immunity to that particular virus. So basically, when you get a
:53:14. > :53:17.vaccine it is that put in your arm. The challenge is making sure the
:53:17. > :53:22.vaccine produces the correct antibodies to deal with the ever-
:53:22. > :53:26.changing flu virus. We react to infections slightly differently.
:53:26. > :53:31.There are genetic differences between us, which mean some of us
:53:31. > :53:41.may be more easily infected than others, or might even be better
:53:41. > :53:42.
:53:42. > :53:47.spreaders of viruses. Professor bill studies genetics at the
:53:47. > :53:51.University of Cambridge. I'm intrigued to learn with the
:53:51. > :53:55.neurovirus, there's seems to be a certain part of the population that
:53:55. > :53:59.are naturally resistant to it? That's a genetic thing where you
:53:59. > :54:04.inherit a gene from your parents which mean the virus can't infect
:54:04. > :54:09.you. There are a number of genetic susceptibilities coming to light
:54:09. > :54:14.now, going back to the swine flu pandemic which a massive natural
:54:14. > :54:18.experiment on the human race, we can use all the new techniques of
:54:18. > :54:23.sequenceing people's gee gnomes and see the difference of people who
:54:23. > :54:28.ended up in hospital and those who just got mild colds.
:54:28. > :54:34.So if our against with determine how badly we're affected by a virus,
:54:34. > :54:41.could there be some truth to the idea that men get flu worst than
:54:41. > :54:46.women. That man flu is real? From a evolutionary point of view, might
:54:46. > :54:51.it make sense that males and at the males respond differently to
:54:51. > :54:55.infections? It does, evolution is fantastically good at fine-tuning
:54:55. > :54:59.the system in order to make the best of the resources. You can
:54:59. > :55:03.imagine men and women do things differently, they have different
:55:03. > :55:07.time budgets and energy budgets and therefore you can imagine them
:55:07. > :55:10.putting different amounts into fighting infection. And maybe
:55:10. > :55:15.fighting infection in different ways. The other thing that affects
:55:15. > :55:21.how you feel is your immune system and that could well be different,
:55:21. > :55:25.depending whether you are a man or woman because you are other things
:55:25. > :55:30.affecting that like hormones, and we know hormones and stress can
:55:30. > :55:36.play different outcomes in disease. Is there a difference between the
:55:36. > :55:41.way men and women respond, interact with viruss? My models come from
:55:41. > :55:45.animals, a and a good example is the red deer, where you have the
:55:45. > :55:48.males, have one chance of reproducing in the season and they
:55:49. > :55:52.have to try corner as many at the males as they can and mate with
:55:52. > :55:59.lots of demales and only the biggest males in the best condition
:55:59. > :56:04.can do that. If they get a disease, the mating season they want to get
:56:04. > :56:08.rid of that as fast as possible, so it is advantagous for them to pile
:56:08. > :56:15.in the resources and get rid of the disease as quickly as they can. If
:56:15. > :56:18.you contrast to a female who can look after her offspring, she has
:56:18. > :56:23.to maintain a certain level of activity, she's got to care for
:56:23. > :56:29.offspring, suckel it, diverting resources into producing milk, so
:56:29. > :56:33.she may have a different strategy to fighting disease. So they're
:56:33. > :56:41.constantly learning more how we interact with virus, and it looks
:56:41. > :56:47.like man flu might exist? Might is a good term. I'll agree there, yes.
:56:47. > :56:52.In the two-day life of our pop-up clinic there's a constant flow of
:56:52. > :56:57.people tested for flu. Some thought they had flu when all they had was
:56:57. > :57:01.a nasty cold, others just wanted to know they were in the clear.
:57:01. > :57:06.tested 80 people and got one case of flu, what do you think? That's
:57:06. > :57:13.not bad, that's more or less what we might have expected, if we bear
:57:13. > :57:17.in mind, 10-15% of the population get flu, that's spread out over a
:57:17. > :57:21.flee-month season, we looked at people over two days, we were
:57:21. > :57:30.expecting one or two cases and we got one, so that's not bad. That's
:57:30. > :57:36.are new tests, what is a value value for them. This is the value
:57:36. > :57:42.for the GP, at the bedside to ensure the person is infected by
:57:42. > :57:52.influenza virus, that's specific. So it is rather interesting isn't
:57:52. > :57:52.
:57:52. > :57:58.it It is beneficial if you can use these well. There's been so sign in
:57:58. > :58:03.our pop-up lab of an imminent flu epidemic, but it is clear winter
:58:03. > :58:10.viruses are a formidable enemy. Flu alone will kill thousands of people
:58:10. > :58:16.in the UK this year. Scientists are on constant alert for dangerous new
:58:16. > :58:22.strains and new vaccines are developed all the time. But as
:58:22. > :58:30.we've seen with neurovirus we remain vulnerable when an outbreak
:58:30. > :58:37.takes hold. There an element of chance about who gets winter
:58:38. > :58:42.viruses but there things you can do it reduce risk. If you are in over
:58:42. > :58:49.65, if asthmatic or chronic health problems or pregnant, there's still
:58:49. > :58:54.time this year to get vaccinated, but next year remember to get it
:58:54. > :59:00.done in Autumn. Hygiene rules, wash your hands as regularly as possible,