British scientists say they have created the first genetically modified chickens that do not spread bird flu.
Researchers say the development will protect the health of poultry and could reduce the risk of a pandemic of the disease in humans, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
Bird flu, also known as avian flu, does not easily infect humans but when it does the effects can be serious.
One strain, H5N1, has been blamed for about 300 deaths since the mid-1990s and kills almost 80 percent of those who become infected.
"Chickens are potential bridging hosts that can enable new strains of flu to be transmitted to humans," Laurence Tiley of Cambridge University, one of the scientists who carried out the new research, said. "Preventing virus transmission in chickens should reduce the economic impact of the disease and reduce the risk posed to people exposed to the infected birds."
The research team inserted an artificial gene into chickens that introduced a tiny part of the bird flu virus into chicken cells.
The modified birds become infected but the virus was rendered to other poultry, the BBC reported.
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