Bird flu can spread in mammals, study finds
Thursday, May 3, 2012 - 02:10
in Health & Medicine
The results, showing an engineered flu strain can spread easily between ferrets, derive from a controversial study that stirred debate over fears of a bioterrorism threat.In a long-awaited study that helped prompt a contentious debate over the wisdom of conducting research that has the potential to help as well as harm, scientists reported Wednesday that they had engineered a mutant strain of bird flu that can spread easily between ferrets — a laboratory animal that responds to flu viruses much as people do.