Study Shows How Bird Flu Could Jump to Humans

From the 2 May 2012 article at MedPage Today

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/URItheFlu/32464

Action Points

• Note that a paper published in Naturedemonstrated transmissibility between ferrets of a reassortant H1N1 influenza strain with four mutations in an H5N1 hemagglutinin.
• Note that while the reassortant virus transmitted easily by respiratory droplets and that ferrets are a good model for human transmission, the virus did not cause a fatal illness in the animals.

A hotly debated study pins down four mutations in a key gene in the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu that allow it to adapt to mammals.

The mutations, in the hemagglutinin gene of the avian flu, are enough to make it easily pass among ferrets in droplet form, much as human-adapted flu passes among humans, researchers reported.

But the modified virus – a construct combining the modified H5N1 gene and seven genes from the human H1N1 pandemic flu — was not lethal to the animals, according to Yoshihiro Kawaoka, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and colleagues.

And it remains unclear if a wild-type H5N1 virus that acquired the four mutations would be transmissible among mammals, Kawaoka and colleagues wrote in an online Nature report that was the subject of heated discussion even before it was published….

Related articles

• Bird flu study published, after months of delay (ctv.ca)
• Controversial bird flu paper explains potential of pandemic (mnn.com)
• Controversial flu research published (sciencenews.org)
• After epic debate, avian flu research sees light of day (eurekalert.org)
• Controversial flu paper finally published (newscientist.com)
• One of Two Hotly Debated H5N1 Papers Finally Published (news.sciencemag.org)
• Flu study that sparked censorship row is published at last (blogginghounds.wordpress.com)
• Controversial flu study published (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Bird Flu Study Made Bird Flu More Contagious, Researchers Say (inquisitr.com)
• Once-Banned Bird Flu Study Suggests Pandemic Threat Is Real (news.health.com)

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