Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Using Zebrafish Models of Human Influenza A Virus Infections to Screen Antiviral Drugs and Characterize Host Immune Cell Responses
Published on: January 20, 2017
Ferrets as a transmission model for influenza: sequence changes in HA1 of type A (H3N2) virus
M L Herlocher1, S Elias, R Truscon
1Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. louise@umich.edu
Abstract:
Ferrets were used as an animal model to study whether controlled transmission of type A influenza is similar to human transmission when sequence changes in HA1 are used as the outcome. Ferrets were infected initially with A/Sydney/5/97 (H3N2) or A/LA/1/87 (H3N2) intranasally, and transmission chains were established by housing infected ferrets with noninfected ferrets with no influenza antibody titer against the infecting virus. Ferrets infected with A/Sydney were seronegative for A/Sydney and A/LA; ferrets infected with A/LA were seronegative for A/LA but had hemagglutination inhibition titers against A/Sydney. Titers of naturally transmitted influenza were higher than those after direct intranasal infection, but lymphocyte counts from nasal washes diminished with transmission. Ferrets infected with A/LA had 2 amino acid differences in HA1 after transmission through 5 ferret cohorts, but those infected with A/Sydney had none. The results show the value of the ferret model. A/LA resembled the transmission of influenza in humans when under antibody pressure.
Related Concept Videos
Viral Recombination
Viral Mutations
Leaky Scanning
Rabies
Influenza
Inhibitors Of Virion Release

