Studio Guest: Klaus Schughart, Helmholtz Center for Infection Research

"The virus looks right now not as deadly as we had feared. But it is still a virus to be watched very closely."
DW-TV: Dr Schughart, why is it taking so long? The H1N1 virus has been the object of study for some time now.


Klaus Schughart: Well actually today the development of a vaccine goes much faster, one has to say, than even decades ago, because of molecular biology technology. But you have to keep in mind that quality control has to be done to make sure that the vaccine is safe and really does what its expected to.


DW-TV: We just learned that vaccines can be produced more quickly in cell solutions. Is the new method being employed on a large scale yet?


Klaus Schughart: Not yet It's right that this is a much better method. but again it will take time to sure that quality control is ok and that the vaccine actually works as expected.


DW-TV: In our report we learned that new medicines might one day not only be able to keep the virus in check, but actually go on the offensive - attacking and destroying the virus in the body. What's the state of research into that aspect?


Klaus Schughart: At the moment we only have two targets to combat the life cycle of the virus. One of them is Tamiflu. And there are currently other drug targets being developed, that research is feverishly working on, to find more targets so that the virus replication cycle can be interrupted at other places.


DW-TV: Viruses are difficult to combat because they're constantly changing. Is there any way to actually work against that?


Klaus Schughart: No there isn't. The influenza virus is a particular case because there's a huge natural reservoir in which other variants of the virus are constantly emerging. So we will just have to live with that, that always new types of viruses will occur and infect humans.


DW-TV: Are there any promising new approaches at the moment?



Klaus Schughart: One approach is to develop a vaccine which is directed not against the parts of the virus which are constantly changing, but against those parts that the virus needs to keep constant, to actually keep up its shape, and people are working on that.


DW-TV: Do you think it will ever be possible to eradicate the influenza virus?


Klaus Schughart: No, as far as we can say at the moment it will not, because of this problem with the huge natural reservoir and its possibility to jump from one species to another.


DW-TV: The current outbreak is expanding at an alarming rate. Do you think it will turn into this deadly pandemic that so many virologists have been fearing for so many years now?


Klaus Schughart: It's difficult to say. We were very worried when the first cases of death were actually occuring in Mexico. But the way it looks right now, it is not as deadly as we had feared. But it is still a virus to be watched very closely.


Interview: Heather DeLisle