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August 17, 2006
Researchers develop new way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have devised a method to understand better one of the key questions surrounding the threat of pandemic influenza – how do you know when an animal virus is going to mutate to become contagious among humans? CDC researchers announced July 31 they have developed better ways to probe that question, and found the virus might not mutate easily from animal to human pathogen. That is good news at a time when the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has spread to bird populations in more than 50 nations, and reached pandemic proportions in some areas, officials say.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r060731.htm
Posted by sball at August 17, 2006 06:03 AM