To find out what impact this might have on a flu epidemic, Earn and his colleagues turned to a 1982 study which showed that ferrets, a common animal model for human flu, produced more seasonal flu virus if their fevers were lowered either with painkillers or by having their fur shaved off. (newscientist.com)
Seasonal flu viruses continually undergo mutations that help them evade the human immune system, but some of these mutations can reduce a virus's potency. (sciencedaily.com)