Hard to predict how dangerous virus will become
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE new bird flu virus is still evolving, making it hard for scientists to predict how dangerous it might become.
Influenza experts say the H7N9 strain is probably still swapping genes with other strains, seeking to select ones that might make it fitter.
If it succeeds, the world could be facing the threat of a deadly flu pandemic. But it may also fail and just fizzle out.
The virus' instability also raises questions about whether H7N9 might become resistant to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu.
Wendy Barclay, a flu virologist at Imperial College London, said it could be some time before the strain finds a form in which it can spread swiftly and efficiently in bird populations.
While experts take some comfort in the lack of evidence so far that H7N9 is passing from person to person ? a factor that would dramatically increase its pandemic potential ? they find little comfort in not yet knowing exactly how people became infected.
Influenza experts say the H7N9 strain is probably still swapping genes with other strains, seeking to select ones that might make it fitter.
If it succeeds, the world could be facing the threat of a deadly flu pandemic. But it may also fail and just fizzle out.
The virus' instability also raises questions about whether H7N9 might become resistant to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu.
Wendy Barclay, a flu virologist at Imperial College London, said it could be some time before the strain finds a form in which it can spread swiftly and efficiently in bird populations.
While experts take some comfort in the lack of evidence so far that H7N9 is passing from person to person ? a factor that would dramatically increase its pandemic potential ? they find little comfort in not yet knowing exactly how people became infected.
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