CDC Tests Transmissibility of Hybrid Flu Virus

August 2, 2006 — 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a hybrid influenza virus combining an H5N1 avian flu virus collected in 1997 with an H3N2 human flu virus and infected ferrets to examine the transmissibility of the virus.

The findings, detailed in a report to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that the engineered virus was not able to transmit efficiently and was actually less able to cause severe disease than the original H5N1 virus. The scientists used ferrets because they are considered good models for flu virus research because their susceptibility to flu viruses is similar to that of humans.

CDC researchers cautioned against complacency based on the results of this experimental study indicating that in nature the virus could become transmissible through accumulated small mutations, without reassortment. The deadly H5N1 virus has infected 232 people and killed 134 since late 2003, but it has not yet found a way to spread easily from person to person.

Additional studies are planned using more recent viruses.

Source:
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota