Jennifer Humberd

TL;DR: It is shown that these H5N1 viruses are reverting to nonpathogenicity in ducks, suggesting that the duck has become the "Trojan horse" of Asian H 5N1 influenza viruses.

TL;DR: Eight virus isolates that were nonpathogenic in ducks replicated and transmitted efficiently to naïve contacts, suggesting that highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses causing minimal signs of disease in ducks can propagate silently and efficiently among domestic and wild ducks in Asia and that they represent a serious threat to human and veterinary public health.

TL;DR: It is suggested that for high virulence in mammalian species an avian H5N1 virus with a cleavable hemagglutinin requires adaptive changes in polymerase genes to overcome the species barrier, and novel antivirals targeting polymerase proteins should be developed.

TL;DR: H5N1 vaccines may stimulate an immune response that is more cross-protective than what might be predicted by in vitro assays and, thus, hold potential for being stockpiled as "initial" pandemic vaccines.

TL;DR: R reverse genetics allows the inexpensive preparation of standardized, efficacious H5N3 poultry vaccines that may also reduce the reemergence of H 5N1 genotypes.