After epic debate, avian flu research sees light of day

[MindMover]

Last edited Wed May 2, 2012, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)

After a marathon debate over a pair of studies that show how the avian H5N1 influenza virus could become transmissible in mammals, and an unprecedented recommendation by a government review panel to block publication, one of the studies was finally and fully published in the journal Nature (May 3, 2012).

Publication caps an epic public conversation that pitted some infectious diseases experts against flu and public health researchers who argued that publication was not only important, but also essential to informing influenza surveillance and preparedness for a virus that could evolve to infect humans and cause a global pandemic.

"Our study shows that relatively few amino acid mutations are sufficient for a virus with an avian H5 hemagglutinin to acquire the ability to transmit in mammals," says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison flu researcher whose study of H5N1 virus transmissibility was at the center of the debate. "This study has significant public health benefits and contributes to our understanding of this important pathogen. By identifying mutations that facilitate transmission among mammals, those whose job it is to monitor viruses circulating in nature can look for these mutations so measures can be taken to effectively protect human health."

However, Kawaoka cautions there may be other unknown mutations that also enable the virus to transmit in mammals. It is therefore critical, he argues, to continue research to identify additional mutations that have the same effect, and to understand how they work.

The study, conducted by an international team of researchers led by Kawaoka, a UW-Madison professor of pathobiological sciences and a leading expert on influenza, shows that some viruses now circulating in nature require just four mutations to the hemagglutinin protein, which sits on the virus surface and enables it to bind to host cells, to become an even greater threat to human health.

A subset of the mutations identified by the Wisconsin group has, in fact, already been detected in some viruses circulating in poultry flocks in Egypt and parts of Southeast Asia, underscoring the urgency of science-based surveillance, Kawaoka says.

In the Nature report, Kawaoka's group describes a laboratory-modified bird flu/human flu hybrid virus that can become transmissible in an animal model for human infection with just a handful of mutations. Because flu viruses in nature are constantly changing as they circulate and easily swap genes with other flu viruses, the possibility of circulating H5N1 viruses hitting the right combination of mutations and becoming a much bigger threat to human health is greater than many experts believed, avers Kawaoka, a faculty member in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-epic-debate-avian-flu-day.html

Amid Controversy, Scientists Publish Recipe For Making More Potent Bird Flu

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-05/published-today-recipe-potent-bird-flu-designed-preparedness-mind?

[jairai12]

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