Biological Clock Linked to Infections read more at here http://www.spinonews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/614

New research in mice suggests that the time of day at which an infection starts up could play a role in how sick you get.

Researchers found that, in mice that were infected with a virus in the morning, the virus replicated within the cells of those mice much more than it did in the mice that were infected with the same virus later in the day.

According to the study, the mice's circadian rhythm, or biological clock, influencing when it goes to sleep and wake up, circadian rhythm helps regulate some aspects of the immune system, it's not clear if the results also apply to humans.

In the experiment, researchers infected normal mice with the herpes virus, and then measured the virus's replication in the cells of the animals. The mice were on a 24-hour schedule, with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

They found that the viral replication was 10 times greater in the mice that were infected with the virus at sunrise than in those that were infected 10 hours into the day. Ten hours into the day marks the start of their active phase.

When researchers repeated the experiment with mice to lack a gene linked to their circadian rhythm, that viral replication was high no matter what time of day the mice were infected.

The researchers also did an experiment using mouse cell cultures, to observing greater viral replication in cells that lacked a circadian rhythm.

Researchers found that the herpes virus was able to alter the cell's biological clock mechanism, making the cells more vulnerable to infection.