LOC11:15
08:15 GMT
LONDON, Aug 30 (KUNA) -- If you are reaching for your handkerchief it might
be too late to stop the spread of flu, research suggests Thursday.
Flu and cold viruses are known to be carried in mucus droplets that spray
out when a person coughs or sneezes, the new study, reported in the online
medical journal "PLoS ONE, suggested.
But this latest research indicates that flu can be transmitted before any
symptoms show.
The findings, from a study of ferrets, support earlier research suggesting
that viral particles can be expelled into the air through normal breathing.
Lead researcher Professor Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London,
said: "This result has important implications for pandemic planning strategies.
It means that the spread of flu is very difficult to control, even with
self-diagnosis and measures such as temperature screens at airports.
"It also means that doctors and nurses who don't get the flu jab are
putting their patients at risk because they might pass on an infection when
they don't know they're infected."
Ferrets are often used in flu research because they are susceptible to the
same virus strains as humans, and show similar symptoms.
The study is the first to investigate non-symptomatic flu transmission in
an animal.
Ferrets with flu were placed close to healthy animals for a short period of
time at different stages after infection.
Transmission occurred before the flu carriers displayed their first
symptom: fever.
The virus passed between animals which were kept both in the same cage and
in adjacent cages.
The strain used in the research was the same one that caused the 2009 swine
flu pandemic which killed almost 300,000 people worldwide.
Ferrets were able to pass flu onto their neighbours just 24 hours after
being infected themselves, the scientists found. (end)
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