News

Two research teams that conducted a massive number of experiments on the new H7N9 influenza virus found more signs that it could be a pandemic virus, though their animal tests showed that its ability to spread through coughs and sneezes isn’t as robust as seasonal flu. For further details see: link.

A review article discussing regulations, safety considerations and physical limitations with regards to scientific progress in the context of BSL4 laboratories may be found at the following link: Article

A new article on the current situation and challenges involving European BSL4 laboratories has been published in PLoS Pathogens. See attached link for further details.

The one year moratorium on research that may possibly enhance the host spectrum of avian influenza, specifically H5N1, is over. A consortium of 40 researchers published a letter in Nature stating their intend to continue their work (see link for details).

Biosafety Considerations of Mammalian-Transmissible H5N1 Influenza:
http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/2/e00043-12.full.pdf+html

Mammalian-Transmissible H5N1 Virus: Containment Level and Case Fatality Ratio:
http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/2/e00054-12.full.pdf+html

The article by the group of Ron Fouchier has been published in Science. See the following links for further details:
Herfst et al.
Russel et al.

A review article was published in Nature looking at the issues surrounding biosecurity and biological research. The article follows the publication of the paper by Imai et al. where they looked at certain mutations in H5N1 avian influenza virus that confer respiratory droplet transmissibility of the virus in ferrets. Please see the following links for more details:
Imai et al.
Morens et al.

ECDC has published an article summarising the recent events regarding the H5N1 debate while also outlining possible ways forward. The article can be found at the following link:ECDC article.