Nabel believes what they have found thus
far is just a subset of the changes the virus will
need to make in order to cause a pandemic
so their search continues. And as they
identify promising mutations, the team plans
to make these changes to the real H5N1 virus.
This is where ferrets enter the picture, or
rather, they will enter a Biosafety Level
4 containment facility (the highest level of
security), where they will be infected with
the altered H5N1 virus, If the ferrets start
sneezing, and if healthy ferrets in the next
cage get sick, then the virus has become more
transmissible. Vaccines based on these altered
viruses will then be made. "We wouldn't make
m"llions of doses but we could make sma I
stockpiles," says Nabel.
cryptogon.com