Presumably the virus is carried in hamburgers and cakes?
-----Original Message----- From: dana tierney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 20 November 2004 02:48 To: CF-Community Subject: now the truly important news http://www.channelcincinnati.com/health/3922987/detail.html Can You Catch Fat From Virus? Research Suggests Virus Increases Risk For Obesity You can catch a cold or the flu, so why not obesity? It's all around us in the form of friends, spouses, co-workers and children, but could it be a virus? In a laboratory in Richmond, Va., Dr. Richard Atkinson believes research has identified a fat virus, WLWT News 5's Sandra Ali reported. "I can, with absolute certainty say, if you are a chicken, a mouse, or a monkey, and I squirt this virus up your nose, you have a better than 80 percent chance of getting fat," Atkinson said. The virus Atkinson discovered is one of the dozens of human adenoviruses. A doctor in India first discovered a virus that made chickens fat, and Atkinson believes that an obesity virus exchanged genetic material with a human virus. "The same thing happened with AIDS, SARS, the flu … and animal viruses that mutate and are then able to infect humans," Atkinson said. Doctors don't exactly know how the virus works, but they think it may affect the fat cell directly. "We can take the fat cells in tissue cultures and infect them and they turn into fat cells much faster," Atkinson said. "We think the same thing is going on in people's bodies." Since 1985, reports of obesity have increased in the U.S. rapidly. Atkinson considers the growth the anatomy of an epidemic. Researchers at Obetech studied more than 500 people and found that 30 percent of the obese tested positive for fat virus antibodies. Only 10 percent of non-obese people did. "A lot of people will think we're nuts," Atkinson said. "A virus causing obesity? There's a great deal of skepticism." Although many admit their hesitancy to believe such an idea, there are several doctors who don't think the concept is far-fetched. Dr. Mansur Shomali, director of research at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, believes if you don't keep an open mind, medicine doesn't progress. "I think out-of-the-box thinking is what we need because the traditional ways of getting our society fit don't work," Shomali said. "Dr. Atkinson has a long way to go before he convinces most of our colleagues." Atkinson insists that those who test positive for the virus are not doomed to a life of obesity. He said it is simply a risk factor. More Information: Obetech Copyright 2004 by ChannelCincinnati.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. -- Diebold: It's a better way to deliver a state ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:137270 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
