How flu viruses gain the ability to spread

New study reveals the soft palate is a key site for evolution of airborne transmissibility. Flu viruses come in many strains, and some are better equipped than others to spread from person to person. Scientists have now discovered that the soft palate — the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth — plays a key role in viruses’ ability to travel through the air from one person to another. The findings, described in the Sept. 23 online edition of Nature, should help scientists better understand how the flu virus evolves airborne transmissibility and assist them in monitoring the emergence of strains with potential to cause global outbreaks. Researchers from MIT and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) made the surprising finding while examining the H1N1 flu strain, which caused a 2009 pandemic that killed more than 250,000 people. MIT biological engineer Ram Sasisekharan, one of the study’s...