Government Action on Ferret Experiments Divides Experts
Done on ferrets, these aimed to discover the extent in which virus mutations are transferred from an infected animal to a healthy one, hoping to inform on its repercussions on humans.
H5N1 is a virulent form of influenza which has a death rate of 59 percent in confirmed cases. Since 2003, there have been 574 confirmed cases with 337 dying from it, according to the World Health Organization. However, this flu does not have an efficient way of being spread and infection via humans is low.
The studies, led by Dr. Ron Fouchier of Erasmus University in the Netherlands and Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tokyo, were submitted to the journals Science and Nature respectively for publication. However, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), concurring with the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), advised the journals to censor key details of the studies for fear of it being used for terrorist purposes.
Free to publish at their own discretion, the editors of the two journals stated that they are giving the recommendations serious thought, including the government’s plan in sharing the details of the experiments with other members of the scientific community.
While there is no information yet on Kawaoka, et al’s study, Fouchier et al revealed some interesting information to scientists. Ferrets were infected with mutations of the virus and were allowed to naturally infect one another. It was observed that there was a higher rate of infection, even without physical contact between ferrets.
This has divided key experts. Dr. Anice Lowen, flu transmission researcher and assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, agrees that the ferret is the closest model for human flu in the case of “virulence and transmittability”. Other studies point to the similarity of symptoms, patho-physiology, and responses of humans and ferrets to influenza.
Notwithstanding the similarities, there are important differences in the responses of ferrets and humans which, according to Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Higgins professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, contradicts the view that releasing the full study is dangerous saying that ferrets do not represent people.
Dr. Richard Webby, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds in Memphis disagrees with Racaniello positing that, while humans have increased immunity, the ferret experiments can correctly infer on the effects of flu virus mutations to humans.