Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Image source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
BY BRIAN BONDUS
New research from MIT warns two bird flu viruses are only a few mutations away from
becoming much more infectious.
The H5N1 and H7N9 viruses, most commonly found in birds, can spread to humans by handling
poultry and touching certain animals, but the viruses are reportedly only one amino-acid
change away from being able to spread through human-to-human contact.
Many fear if the viruses do mutate, they will spread rapidly through humans' coughs and
sneezes and could cause a pandemic. It's especially alarming because these strains are considered
deadly. (Via The Hindu)
"Out of the 131 cases that have been reported
in China, 127 of those people have had to go to the hospital, which means around 97
percent of those infected needed serious care. Thirty-six people didn't survive." (Via Everyday
Health)
NPR reports flu viruses don't just mutate randomly to spread from human to human, but
rather they all stem from the 1918 Spanish flu. Also known as the "Mother of All Pandemics,"
that bird flu killed an estimated 50 million people, and the three flu pandemics since
1957 are all descendents of the strain. (Via CDC)
So what is China doing to stop the outbreak of this lethal virus?
According to a U.S. researcher who visited China in April, the Chinese are correctly
testing poultry for the virus, but currently it is not common among the birds. He says, "You
can look at the data and say hey, one reasonable interpretation is this virus is not very common
on farms. ... And occasionally ... chicken or quail are infected and they go to the market
and it amplifies in the market and get more birds infected in the market. That's a very
plausible hypothesis based on the data right now." (Via The Province)
There have been no reports of human-to-human spreading of the disease and no illnesses
outside of China.