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Bird Flu Pandemic Fears May Be Exaggerated

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 23, 2006

Bird Flu • FDA Gains Insight to Bird Flu Virus • New Flu Bug Proves Resistant to Antiviral Drugs • Report: Nation Not Ready For Flu Pandemic • Antiviral Overuse Could Aid Deadly Flu • 1918 Flu Virus Offers Clues to Prevent Pandemics • Scientists Report Progress Toward Bird Flu 'Cure' • Bird Flu Not the Only Animal Disease Threat • Bird Flu Vaccine Trials 'Encouraging' • FDA Frets about Flu Drugs' Side Effects • World Not Ready For Bird Flu • Researchers: Bird Flu Pandemic Inevitable • Bird Flu Scare in Virginia • FDA Issues Flu Vaccine Guidelines • FDA Approves First Bird Flu Vaccine • More Flu Bugs Show Resistance To Anti-Virals • Seasonal Flu Shot Might Offer Some Bird Flu Protection • Experts Concerned about Tamiflu Overuse • Study Finds Much Bird Flu Planning is Misplaced • U.S. Orders More Bird Flu Vaccine • Scientists Identify Genetic Changes That Could Lead to Bird Flu Pandemic • Drug Interaction Can Render Tamiflu Ineffective • New Bird Flu Variant Renews Pandemic Concerns • Researchers Find New Weapon Against Flu Virus • Researchers Test Spreadability of Bird Flu Viruses to Humans • GlaxoSmithKline Claims Bird Flu Breaththrough • Global Corporations Struggle to Plan For Pandemic • Flu Pandemic Is "Inevitable," EU Experts Warn • Bird Flu Virus May Have Mutated In Indonesian Cases • Indonesian Nurse May Have Bird Flu • Study Warns of "Chaos" and "Panic" If Bird Flu Strikes • Investigators Find No Evidence Bird Flu Virus Has Mutated • Scientists Fear Bird Flu Virus May Have Mutated • Airlines Queasy About Quarantining Bird Flu Victims • More ...

Scientists say the bird flu virus could still mutate so that it spreads from human to human, but two new studies indicate that process may be more difficult, and perhaps less likely, than previously believed.

As the lethal virus has spread among wild and domestic birds around the world, medical experts have warned that the virus, known as H5N1, could mutate into a form that could easily be spread among humans. So far, the virus has proved deadly to the few humans who have contracted it, all of whom had direct contact with sick birds.

The new studies may explain why the virus hasn't mutated so that it can be spread from one human to another.

The disease appears to lodge in an unusual part of the human respiratory tract, far deeper in the lungs than most viruses settle. Using human tissue samples, the researchers have found that H5N1 in this part of the body can't be spread by sneezing and coughing, the way regular, seasonal cold and flu germs are.

Researchers familiar with the study are taking comfort from the findings, because they say it could make it more difficult for H5N1 to mutate into the deadly human pandemic many have feared.

Since 2003, only 183 people worldwide have contracted the H5N1 virus, almost all from contact with infected birds. But of the 183 infected, 103 have died, alarming public health experts who are concerned a human pandemic stemming from this virus could be particularly catastrophic.

"Our findings provide a rational explanation for why H5N1 viruses rarely infect and spread from human to human although they can replicate efficiently in the lungs," University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers said in their study, reported in the journal Nature.

"No one knows whether the virus will evolve into a pandemic strain, but flu viruses constantly change," Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the group's leader, said.

"Certainly multiple mutations need to be accumulated for the H5N1 virus to become a pandemic strain."

A group of Dutch researchers reported similar findings, published this week in the online journal Science.

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