The potential use of influenza virus as an agent for bioterrorism
1Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA. rkrug@icmb.utexas.edu
Abstract:
Influenza A virus has been responsible for widespread human epidemics because it is readily transmitted from humans to humans by aerosol. Recent events have highlighted the potential of influenza A virus as a bioterrorist weapon: the high virulence of the influenza A virus that infected people in Hong Kong in 1997; and the development of laboratory methods to generate influenza A viruses by transfection of DNAs without a helper virus. Antiviral drugs that are directed at functions shared by all influenza A viruses constitute the best line of defense against a bioterrorist attack. Consequently, new antiviral drugs need to be developed, and the few currently available antiviral drugs should be stockpiled.
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