Antibodies still protect 1918 flu survivors: study

Crowe said his team is working to get antibodies from people vaccinated with experimental shots for the H5N1 avian influenza now circulating in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. H5N1 mostly affects birds but it has infected 385 people since 2003, killing 243.

Experts fear that, like the H1N1 virus did in 1918, H5N1 will mutate into a form that passes easily among people and spark another pandemic. No one knows if the vaccines being made now would protect against whatever form of H5N1 might emerge.

Crowe said antibodies from survivors might make a good interim treatment while a vaccine is formulated, manufactured and distributed -- a process that would take months.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)