Read the passage carefully, then choose the correct option (marked A, B, C or D) to answer the questions. Scientists have established that influenza viruses taken from man can cause disease in animals. In addition, man can catch the disease from animals. In fact, a greater numbers of wild birds seem to carry the virus without showing any evidences of illness. Some scientists conclude that a large family of influenza virus may have evolved in the bird kingdom, a group that has been on earth 100 ...

Read the passage carefully, then choose the correct option (marked A, B, C or D) to answer the questions.

Scientists have established that influenza viruses taken from man can cause disease in animals. In addition, man can catch the disease from animals. In fact, a greater numbers of wild birds seem to carry the virus without showing any evidences of illness. Some scientists conclude that a large family of influenza virus may have evolved in the bird kingdom, a group that has been on earth 100 million years and is able to carry the virus without contracting the disease. There is even convincing evidence to show that virus strain are transmitted from place to place and from continent to continent by migrating birds. It is known that two influenza viruses can recombine when both are present in an animal at the same time. The result of such recombination is a great variety of strains containing different H and N spikes. This raises the possibility that a human influenza virus can recombine with an influenza virus from a lower animal to produce an entirely new spike. Research is underway to determine if that is the way major new strains come into being. Another possibility is that two animal influenza strains may recombine in a pig, for example, to produce a new strain which is transmitted to man.

According to the passage, scientists have discovered that influenza viruses______.