Hotzone
NEW viruses are the order of the day. Scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (under the ministry of science and technology) in New Delhi have uncovered a new hepatitis virus, which they believe could be responsible'for a number of sporadic cases of hepatitis in the country and other parts of the world. This will raise the number of viruses known to cause hepatitis to 6.
The discoverers isolated the new organism from human stool samples and from monkeys which were inoculated with the stool extracts. Later, they also identified its genetic fingerprints in human cases of the disease in India. The virus spreads through contaminated food and water, and not through injections.