In 2014, an avian influenza virus caused an outbreak in harbor and gray seals in northern Europe, killing over 10% of the population. In a study appearing October 7 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers pinpoint the mammalian adaptation mutations that appeared during the outbreak in seals. They show that these mutations also made the virus transmissible via the air in ferrets and that similar mutations play a recurring and consistent role in making avian influenza viruses more transmissible between other mammal species.
Click here for original story, A 2014 seal flu illustrates how avian flu viruses can adapt to spread between mammals
Source: Phys.org