I knew there was a good excuse!

[Waldo]

A common cold virus can help make people obese, new research revealed today.

The discovery could pave the way to "slimming" vaccines or anti-viral drugs, it is claimed.

Scientists have pinpointed a particular gene in the human adenovirus-36 that appears to promote weight gain.

They hope vaccines or drugs that target the gene may be able to prevent many cases of obesity in the future.

A link between adenovirus-36 (ad-36) and obesity has long been suspected.

The virus is one of a large family of infectious agents thought to account for around half of all common colds. Typically it causes sore eyes and respiratory symptoms.

Earlier work has demonstrated that ad-36 can lead infected animals to accumulate fat.

An epidemiological study has also shown that 30 per cent of obese people carry the virus compared with 11 per cent of lean individuals.
However, evidence the virus can actually cause fat levels to increase in human cells has been lacking until now.

Louisiana State University scientists used tissue samples from liposuction patients to isolate adult stem cells - immature cells which have not yet developed a specific role in the body.

Half the stem cells were exposed to ad-36 and half not. After a week, most of the virus-infected stem cells, but none of the non-infected calls, had grown into fat-storage cells.

Study leader Dr Magdalena Pasarica said: "We're not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections.

"We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it."

A recent study showed animals with the virus remained obese up to six months after their infection had cleared.

[Mike]

I knew it wasnt the beer and junk food that was responsible for my physique

Mike...