The Scripps Research Institute finding counters prevailing thought that the virus would require multiple mutations before it poses a threat to public health.
California researchers say the world may be just one genetic tweak away from human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus — a worrisome mutation that could open the door to widespread human infections and possibly even a pandemic, according to some experts.
Although more than 50 humans have been infected by H5N1, many of these cases involve dairy workers who were likely sprayed in the eyes and nose with milk from infected cows. Researchers postulate that repeated exposure of this sort allowed the virus to push into the cells — a brute force entry more than a lock-picking. Ordinarily, person-to-person transmission of a flu virus 'is mainly through the air from droplets from a sneeze or cough, which contains very little virus,' Paulson said.
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