# 3430
Helen Branswell, ace science reporter for the Canadian Press, brings us additional detail on the ferret studies I mentioned in an earlier blog today.
She fills in the story with commentary and reaction from several notable scientists, including Malik Peiris of Hong Kong, and Dr. Daniel Perez of the University of Maryland.
There are a lot of highlights from this article, so follow the link to read it in its entirety.
Transmission studies suggest H1N1 is here to stay
Updated: Thu Jul. 02 2009 2:13:51 PM
The Canadian PressTORONTO — H1N1 viruses are missing at least two key features seen in all flu viruses present and past that transmit well among people and yet the viruses are spreading quite efficiently, two new studies suggest.
The research groups which produced the work differ slightly in their views of the degree to which the novel H1N1 virus is spreading, with one finding transmission isn't yet as efficient as with human flu viruses while the other finding transmission rates are in lockstep with those of seasonal flu cousins.
There is no disputing the evidence, though -- the virus is spreading around the globe, claiming at least 332 lives so far. And it is doing this without all the tools scientists would expect a flu virus to need to become a successful human pathogen.
"The take-home message is that a virus that does not have some of the features that we have previously recognized as hallmarks of adaptation of flu in humans was able to establish itself in humans and cause disease," said Dr. Daniel Perez, an influenza virologist with the University of Maryland.
"Regardless of what the virus might do, I believe it is here to stay either as a whole virus or with some of its gene. It may be able to outcompete and-or co-circulate with seasonal flu strains."
Once again, we hear that this virus isn’t fully adapted to humans, and that it has `room’ to gain in both transmissibility and virulence.
That doesn’t mean that it will . . . but it certainly could.
Scientists examining the data are concerned by this virus’s ability to invade deep lung tissue, something that it shares in common with the 1918 Spanish flu and the H5N1 bird flu.
Something that Hong Kong Virologist Malik Peiris says, “. . . is clearly cause for caution in regard to the pathogenic potential of this virus in humans."
