Searching for answers

By Denise Albiston

World health officials are taking the possible spread of bird flu seriously as it spreads across Asia and Africa, and Utah State University researchers are working hard to be part of the solution to a potential pandemic.

Donald Smee, research professor for the Institute for Antiviral Research at USU, said that although the virus has yet to mutate to the point of easily infecting humans, the potential for mutation is very real.

“Bird flu is rare,” Smee said. “It’s not a big deal now, but we just don’t know what could happen. Flu infects millions of people every year, but it doesn’t kill them.”

Avian influenza is an infectious disease for birds that can be lethal to people. According to the World Health Organization, the disease was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago and occurs in some form in most birds worldwide.

“We have bird flu from the U.S. (that is) indigenous to North America, but not like these Asian flus,” said Smee. “Those are the bad ones.”

Migratory waterfowl — like ducks and geese — are the most common carriers of the virus. Smee said such birds also seem to be the most resistant to the infections. He said most birds are probably able to be infected with the flu, but some species are more resistant than others.

“The concern is that bird flu is part of nature,” Smee said. “It’s here and there is no way of getting rid of it. It’s just a matter of treating it before it goes through a possible mutation and wipes out millions of humans.”

The research institute has spent the past 10 years researching various strains of bird flu, but has yet to fully study those lethal to humans. Smee said the compounds currently being tested in USU labs a are hybridized strain of the U.S. bird influenza that can be lethal to the mice. He said some of the compounds make the mice sick where others don’t, and the hits when the mice don’t get sick are further tested in pre-clinic trials. He said the hits are few and far between, with only about one of every 1,000 being tested further.

“Bird flu is just one of the viruses we do,” Smee said. “We do common viruses also using the same compounds.”

Avian flu might have the same potential risk that SARS created a few years ago, Smee said. The SARS scare required world health officials to use all the resources available to minimize the devastation and to squash a potential pandemic. Although the spread of SARS was limited, bird flu might be more aggressive in spreading. Smee said without knowing how, when or if the flu will even mutate, world heath officials will need to anticipate every outcome in order to protect million of people.

“If somebody contacts this, they’ll most likely die,” Smee said. “It is lethal to humans.”

Smee said the number of people worldwide who have contracted bird flu is not extreme, and most of those had been handling migratory fowl closely. He said somebody plucking a duck’s feathers and then touching their nose could inhale the virus.

Smee said the research institution is currently raising funds to begin testing the lethal avian flu, since costs to remodel a portion of the Veterinary Science building on Utah State’s campus could run around $500,000. He said the remodel would have to include a extensive ventilation system that would protect the virus and not let it spread, and increasing the research capabilities of the institution will help develop measures to prevent an outbreak.

source: hjnews