That’s not to say respiratory spread is impossible, though. Two recent studies in ferrets—one by researchers at the CDC, and one led by a researcher from the University of Wisconsin-Madison—raised that possibility. The researchers isolated the bird flu strain that sickened the first person infected in the current outbreak and tested how infectious it was among ferrets. Although it wasn’t as contagious as the seasonal flu, the bird flu virus was capable of spreading among ferrets by droplets, the researchers found.
Office of Strategic Communication