Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: mBio, full text: (LINK). Extract, edited.]
Key factors most relevant to the debate include the following:
? Natural or laboratory-induced infections from unmodified H5N1 HPAI virus strains have been reported for more than 20 species of mammals, with fatal consequences reported for humans and least 12 other mammal species, including ferrets (1). ? Human-to-human transmission of H5N1 HPAI virus has been documented in at least 5 countries (China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam), including documented person-to-person-to-person transmission within family clusters in Indonesia and Pakistan (2, 3).
? Horizontal transmission of H5N1 HPAI virus between mammals ?
(?)
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Mammalian-Transmissible Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza: Epidemiological Context
Joseph P. Dudley
Author Affiliations: Science Applications International Corporation, Rockville, Maryland, USA
Address correspondence to Joseph P. Dudley, joseph.p.dudley@saic.com.
Letter to the Editor
There are many uncertainties regarding the potential applicability of epidemiological data from ferrets infected with laboratory-created highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses to human public health. These concerns can be better understood and articulated when discussed in the context of observational and clinical data from infections of mammals and humans by unmodified ?wild-type? H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI) viruses, factors which have been largely overlooked or ignored in most of the ongoing public and scientific debate over this issue.
Author Affiliations: Science Applications International Corporation, Rockville, Maryland, USA
Address correspondence to Joseph P. Dudley, joseph.p.dudley@saic.com.
Letter to the Editor
There are many uncertainties regarding the potential applicability of epidemiological data from ferrets infected with laboratory-created highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses to human public health. These concerns can be better understood and articulated when discussed in the context of observational and clinical data from infections of mammals and humans by unmodified ?wild-type? H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI) viruses, factors which have been largely overlooked or ignored in most of the ongoing public and scientific debate over this issue.
Key factors most relevant to the debate include the following:
? Natural or laboratory-induced infections from unmodified H5N1 HPAI virus strains have been reported for more than 20 species of mammals, with fatal consequences reported for humans and least 12 other mammal species, including ferrets (1). ? Human-to-human transmission of H5N1 HPAI virus has been documented in at least 5 countries (China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam), including documented person-to-person-to-person transmission within family clusters in Indonesia and Pakistan (2, 3).
? Horizontal transmission of H5N1 HPAI virus between mammals ?
(?)