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Wednesday, January 11, 2006The respected Ho Chi Minh Pasteur Institute in Vietnam said it had decoded 24 samples of the H5N1 virus taken from poultry and humans. The results showed a significant variation of antigen - any foreign substance that stimulates the body's immune system to produce antibodies. "The H5N1 type that infected people and waterfowl in early 2005 has several mutations focusing in the important functional parts of the surface proteins," the institute said on its website. "There has been a mutation allowing the virus to breed effectively on mammal tissue and become highly virulent," it said. If true, that's very worrisome news. Although, influenza viruses are always mutating. That's their special talent. It's difficult to say whether the mutations observed are anything to be worried about. After all, the study is of virus particles from 2005 infections - and there hasn't been a change in the way the virus's lethality or its ability to be passed from poultry to people. posted by Sydney on 1/11/2006 09:51:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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