# 7469
Last night, in Nature: H7N9 Pathogenesis and Transmissibility In Ferrets & Mice, we looked at the first of two H7N9 studies that appeared yesterday in the journal Nature.
This morning my intent had been to examine the second paper, but quite frankly, Lisa Schnirring at CIDRAP News did such a great job covering both studies last night, the only sensible thing is to direct you to her report.
Lisa includes expert commentary on these two studies by Marion Koopmans, DVM, PhD, with the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands and Michael T. Osterholm, .PhD, MPH, Director of CIDRAP.
New studies on H7N9 raise pandemic concerns
Lisa Schnirring | Staff Writer | CIDRAP News
Jul 10, 2013
iStockphoto
Two new studies found limited spread of the new H7N9 flu virus via respiratory droplets. About a third of ferrets were infected via that route.
Two research teams that conducted a massive number of experiments on the new H7N9 influenza virus found more signs that it could be a pandemic virus, though their animal tests showed that its ability to spread through coughs and sneezes isn't as robust as seasonal flu.
The two studies are among several recent efforts to assess the threat from the new virus, which infected 134 people, 43 of them fatally, before tapering off in early June. Experts aren't sure if the virus has died out or if it has temporarily retreated due to warmer weather and perhaps the effects of outbreak response measures aimed at live-poultry markets in some of China's biggest cities.
Both studies were published in the same issue of Nature. One of the teams is from Japan and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, lab of Yoshihiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD. That team conducted several types of tests and comparisons on two novel H7N9 strains from China, an earlier avian H7N9 strain, and the 2009 H1N1 virus. They also examined how the new virus behaves in mice, ferrets, miniature pigs, macaques.
The second group includes scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also studied two novel H7N9 strains from China, focusing on how it infects human cells and how it spreads in ferrets and mice.
Watanabe T, Kiso M, Fukuyama S, et al. Characterization of H7N9 influenza A viruses isolated from humans, letter. Nature 2013 Jul 10 [Abstract]
Belser JA, Gustin KM, Pearce MB, et al. Pathogenesis and transmission of avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in ferrets and mice, letter. Nature 2013 Jul 10 [Abstract]
