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Thursday, November 17, 2005The greatest fear of health professionals across the globe - the mutation of the bird flu H5N1 virus into a form transmissible between humans - appears to be closer to happening, according to a Vietnamese research study. Cao Bao Van, director of the Molecule Biology Department of the Pasteur Institute, Vietnam's center for bird flu research, was quoted by Reuters as saying 24 samples of the virus taken from poultry and humans showed significant changes, indicating it is mutating into a form that could trigger a pandemic. Reuters reported that Van was quoted in a state-run online site as saying the study showed an 'antigenic shift' involving major changes of influenza surface proteins. These changes could result in the appearance of pandemic flu viruses. At present, the virus is not easily transmissible between humans. It's still a big "what if," though. posted by Sydney on 11/17/2005 09:09:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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