Swine Flu could be a lot tougher to beat during the looming flu season, according to a National Institutes of Health study.
Levels of the H1N1 influenza virus rose more quickly in ferrets than levels of seasonal flu strains, with the Swine Flu variant causing more severe disease, according to researchers at the University of Maryland.
And Swine Flu passed more easily from infected to uninfected animals, the study showed.
But there was no evidence that the H1N1 virus combined with either of two seasonal flus to form new “reassortant” viruses, suggesting that although Swine Flu is likely to be the dominant strain during flu season, there’s no biological pressure on it to combine with other viruses.