Nature: Kawaoka authors commentary on flu research

Here is a news release issued today by the journal Nature: The author of an upcoming Nature paper about H5N1 argues in a Nature Comment article today that research into deadly pathogenic viruses must continue if pandemics are to be prevented. Yoshihiro Kawaoka suggests, after reviewing many factors, that pursuing studies of highly pathogenic viruses must be done with urgency. Two teams are ready to independently publish results showing that mutant H5N1 viruses can be transmitted between ferrets. Kawaoka and his colleagues generated viruses that combined the H5 haemagglutinin (HA) gene and genes from a pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, demonstrating that this mutant virus could spread from infected to uninfected ferrets via respiratory droplets in the air. The discovery that H5N1 could potentially be transmitted between mammals has led to fears both of misuse and of accidental release, but Kawaoka counters that H5N1 viruses circulating in nature may already pose a threat because influenza viruses constantly mutate and can cause pandemics. Indeed, a subset of the specific HA mutations identified by both teams has already been detected in H5N1 viruses circulating in certain countries. It is therefore imperative, Kawaoka argues, that these viruses are monitored closely so that eradication efforts and countermeasures can be focused on them if they should acquire transmissibility.