ConspiracyBuff
01-14-2006, 06:43 AM
Genetic tweak makes virus favour human nose and throat. <TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=1 width="20%" align=right border=0 xmlns=""><TBODY><TR><TD class=black><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ltpink align=middle>http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/images/060109-14b.jpg
http://www.nature.com/news/images/spacer.gif
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ltpink>Turkish Agriculture Ministry employees collect poultry for culling in the village of Cebeci, Turkey
© WHO</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Researchers have sequenced the bird flu viruses that killed two people in Turkey in early January, and say that one of them contains a worrying mutation.
This genetic tweak can make the H5N1 virus more adapted to humans than to birds, and more adapted to the nose and throat than to the lungs. This latter effect could help to increase the chances of bird flu being transmitted between people, researchers say.
They add that many more mutations would probably be necessary before the virus is capable of sparking a full-blown pandemic, in which disease spreads like wild fire from person to person.
The samples of H5N1 virus, taken from the first two victims who died of bird flu in Turkey, were sequenced at a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centre at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, UK. The results were announced on Thursday 12 January, along with confirmation of two new cases: bird flu has now also struck Sanliurfa Province, near Turkey's southern border with Syria, and Siirt Province, in the eastern part of Turkey.
The total number of reported human cases has now reached 18 in less than two weeks, three of which have been fatal.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/full/060109-14.html
http://www.nature.com/news/images/spacer.gif
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ltpink>Turkish Agriculture Ministry employees collect poultry for culling in the village of Cebeci, Turkey
© WHO</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Researchers have sequenced the bird flu viruses that killed two people in Turkey in early January, and say that one of them contains a worrying mutation.
This genetic tweak can make the H5N1 virus more adapted to humans than to birds, and more adapted to the nose and throat than to the lungs. This latter effect could help to increase the chances of bird flu being transmitted between people, researchers say.
They add that many more mutations would probably be necessary before the virus is capable of sparking a full-blown pandemic, in which disease spreads like wild fire from person to person.
The samples of H5N1 virus, taken from the first two victims who died of bird flu in Turkey, were sequenced at a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centre at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, UK. The results were announced on Thursday 12 January, along with confirmation of two new cases: bird flu has now also struck Sanliurfa Province, near Turkey's southern border with Syria, and Siirt Province, in the eastern part of Turkey.
The total number of reported human cases has now reached 18 in less than two weeks, three of which have been fatal.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/full/060109-14.html