During 2009, emergence of influenza A(H1N1 pdm09 as a pandemic virus heightened public awareness of the potential for human influenza viruses to mutate.
But protests from advocates for animal rights and concerns that giving humans animal organs could unleash another AIDS virus have heightened the controversy over cross-species transplants.
The high transmissibility of the virus has heightened public awareness of disease control measures.
Recent advances in biosynthetic technologies risking possible reconstitution of the virus have heightened these concerns.
Virus neutralization can be developed for any influenza subtype, although use of live virus may require heightened biocontainment.
Mr Duncan's diagnosis has heightened fears that the deadly virus could spread from West Africa, where the epidemic started in March and has since killed more than 3,400 people.
The cases have heightened fears that the deadly virus could be spreading beyond West Africa.
The detection of even a single case of human-to-human transmission of the avian influenza virus could necessitate heightened pandemic alerts that have high economic cost to countries that are affected [ 40].
An elevated level of non-synonymous change amongst circulating avian influenza viruses could signify a heightened risk of molecular changes occurring which would increase the pathogenicity of the virus, or its ability to infect new species and become transmissible amongst humans.
Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, has ended the state of emergency declared during the outbreak, but the country will now enter a 90-day period of heightened surveillance to make sure the virus does not return.
