Danger of bird flu hybrid questioned
The Seattle Times
August 1, 2006


An experiment combining bird flu with a common human strain failed to create a virus that is easily transmissible among humans, suggesting it may be more difficult than previously believed for bird flu to mutate into a form that could cause a pandemic, federal scientists said Monday.

Researchers in high-security labs infected ferrets with genetically engineered versions of H5N1 avian influenza and found that they did not infect other ferrets caged nearby. The hybrid versions appeared less virulent than their parent strains.

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