A new study suggests a laboratory-mutated H5N1 avian influenza virus could pose a greater risk to humans than to birds, adding to concerns about the new avian flu strain that has emerged recently in China. Over a year ago, Japanese researchers created a genetically-altered version of the H5N1 avian influenza virus to ‘explore the risk of’ human-to-human transmission. They reported in the journal Nature in early 2012 that the mutated pathogen could be transmitted among mammals through the air in aerosol droplets — for example, from sneezing. They conducted their experiments with ferrets, small domesticated mammals that are a good model for human disease transmission. [Right, US (and Japanese) bioterrorists are *dying* to get the pandemic party started, to make a killing on their deadly vaccines.]
CLG Flu Oddities