H7N9 bird flu found to spread through the air
Virus can also infect pigs, say HKU researchers, who warn officials to maintain tight scrutiny even though threat seems under control
The H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted not only through close contact but by airborne exposure, a team at the University of Hong Kong found after extensive laboratory experiments.
Though the virus appears to have been brought under control recently, the researchers urged the Hong Kong authorities to maintain strict surveillance, which should include not only poultry but humans and pigs.
“We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known,” said Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, a research assistant professor at HKU’s School of Public Health.
There have been 131 confirmed human infections, with 36 deaths, the World Health Organisation said. All but one of the cases was on the mainland. The virus appears to have been brought under control largely due to restrictions at bird markets and there have been no new confirmed cases since May 8.
But Zhu said that although there was no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, their study provided evidence that H7N9 was infectious and transmissible in mammals.
In the study, to be published today in the journal Science, ferrets were used to evaluate the infectivity of H7N9. It was found the virus could spread through the air, from one cage to another, albeit less efficiently.
Inoculated ferrets were infected before the appearance of most clinical symptoms. This means there may be more cases than have been detected or reported.
“People may be transmitting the virus before they even know that they’ve got it,” Zhu said.
Additional tests using pigs, a major host of influenza viruses, showed that they could also get infected with H7N9. Zhu warned that H7N9 may combine with pig viruses to generate new variants.
On a more positive note, it was found that the virus is relatively mild.
“Most of the fatal H7N9 cases had underlying medical conditions, so there are probably some other factors that contribute to this kind of fatality,” Zhu said.
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Scientists create hybrid flu that can go airborne
H5N1 virus with genes from H1N1 can spread through the air between mammals.
Researchers have crossed two strains of avian flu virus to create one that can be transmitted through the air — and possibly settle on the cilia of lung cells as in this conceptual image.
KARSTEN SCHNEIDER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
As the world is transfixed by a new H7N9 bird flu virus spreading through China, a study reminds us that a different avian influenza — H5N1 — still poses a pandemic threat.
A team of scientists in China has created hybrid viruses by mixing genes from H5N1 and the H1N1 strain behind the 2009 swine flu pandemic, and showed that some of the hybrids can spread through the air between guinea pigs. The results are published in Science1.
Flu hybrids can arise naturally when two viral strains infect the same cell and exchange genes. This process, known as reassortment, produced the strains responsible for at least three past flu pandemics, including the one in 2009.
There is no evidence that H5N1 and H1N1 have reassorted naturally yet, but they have many opportunities to do so. The viruses overlap both in their geographical range and in the species they infect, and although H5N1 tends mostly to swap genes in its own lineage, the pandemic H1N1 strain seems to be particularly prone to reassortment.
“If these mammalian-transmissible H5N1 viruses are generated in nature, a pandemic will be highly likely,” says Hualan Chen, a virologist at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the study.
“It’s remarkable work and clearly shows how the continued circulation of H5N1 strains in Asia and Egypt continues to pose a very real threat for human and animal health,” says Jeremy Farrar, director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Flu fears
Chen’s results are likely to reignite the controversy that plagued the flu community last year, when two groups found that H5N1 could go airborne if it carried certain mutations in a gene that produced a protein called haemagglutinin (HA)2, 3. Following heated debate over biosecurity issues raised by the work, the flu community instigated a voluntary year-long moratorium on research that would produce further transmissible strains. Chen’s experiments were all finished before the hiatus came into effect, but more work of this nature can be expected now that the moratorium has been lifted.
Related articles
- H7N9 virus closer to being human transmissible than other bird flu viruses (globalnews.ca)
- H7N9 found to spread through the air (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
- China’s Bird Flu Goes Airborne (zerohedge.com)
- New bird flu may spread from human to human: study (worldbulletin.net)
- SHTFplan: IT’S AIRBORNE: Human Transmission of Deadly H7N9 Virus Now Confirmed (silveristhenew.com)
- As H7N9 Epidemic Fades, Bird Flu Experts Identify How The Virus Spreads (medicaldaily.com)
- Bird Flu Virus Is Capable of Human Spread, Ferret Studies Show – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
- Study Says H7N9 Bird Flu can Spread in Mammals (medindia.net)
- Evolving H7N9 bird flu could close poultry markets (newscientist.com)
- ZeroHedge: China’s Bird Flu Goes Airborne (silveristhenew.com)
Comments
The process I have had to develop to be able to follow what is happening has been an intense education for me as well. Learning to research and follow the signs as well as the facts has become a way of life for me. It is the only way I can keep track of all that is happening so that I can better convey the dangers that may or may not be taking place.
It has been an interesting and very educational road for me as well :) Thank you for being patient with me :D
desertrose I do have to say you have done your home work and are very well versed on this topic. I will take it as an education thanks,
The idea behind following it is not so much the rate of infection. It is more for the pattern and possible origination . Not to mention the mutation patterns that it develops. Agreed that with the population size of China the casualties have been minimal if one is to go a statistical route.
However, what have we learned thus far?
First - The H7N9 was originally condemned by top scientists as a lab created flu that was irresponsible.
Second - a lab created virus has either escaped or been released deliberately to test the effect upon the general population?
Third - Lab generated or not nature does what it has always done and the virus has mutated. It became airborne.
Fourth - We can also trace man's meddling to the H5N1 as it also has the genetic markers of 3 virus' that would not have combined in nature. Therefore, could not have come to be without the meddling of scientists.
Fifth- If any of you remembers the H1N1 that was toted as the pandemic that never was? You will recall the calls to forced vaccination being bandied about by government officials. Not to mention the dire warnings from the WHO about the possible dire consequences of this deadly virus. Which I might add was also tied to a possible American run biological installation in Mexico. It also contained the markers of 3 strains of flu virus' from 3 different species. Which as stated above do NOT develop naturally.
Sixth - add to that the fact that this H7N9 has done what none of the other virus' have done. It has not only crossed the species barrier from pig or fowl to human. This one was responsible for the deaths of domestic animals such as dogs . That has never been recorded as happening and nothing is being said about it. But I have the articles that initially reported it to prove it.
The pattern is quite clear to those who are following not the effects of t he virus' but their possible origination and their patterns of mutation. The last one H7N9 has actually become airborne and therefore gives the markers necessary for further work to be done in the field of weaponization. Which is what they are working towards. Or so one would be led to believe considering the evidence of human influence in their development.
Do not get lost in the hype of the flu and it's aftermath , focus on the trails left by technology and potential damage and you will see what I see.
DR I agree that is a good thing to keep an eye on but in the case of the infection rate per population I have to agree with Keith. This seems to be a push to sell vaccines that do more harm than good. The world is operating with compromised immune systems and we can expect lots of strange diseases happening anywhere anytime. I think we are being herded into fake pandemics for profit or depopulation.