UT Researchers fight flu

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Fighting flu is the goal of a group of UT researchers who worry today's drugs won't pack the same punch tomorrow.

University of Texas researchers won a 1.5 million dollar grant to fight flu from the "National Institutes of Health."

The team is trying to develop new anti-viral medications.

Dr. Bob Krug and his team are scrutinizing Influenza A for clues that could lead to more effective drugs to fight it.  They are also looking at other varieties of the flu including H1N1 and the H5N1 bird flu. 

These scientists are concerned that over time organisms become resistant to the anti-virals used in flu vaccines.  "Influenza viruses are gaining resistance to Tamiflu, so we're in a position where we don't really have many antivirals to fight flu" said Dr. Krug. 

The UT research is trying to stay a step ahead, but acknowledges that the research is a slow process.  "Its gonna take us 5 years, at minimum," said Dr. Krug. "It's a long, hard process to get it."