this is the best explanation I've seen anywhere on why H5N1 is more dangerous than ordinary fluAw, shucks!
Do remember, however, that the mutation to a human adapted virus is #1, by no means a certainty; and #2, if such a mutation should occur it might be harmful to the virus in other ways.
A lot of this data is being presented and discussed as if we know that all Influenza A viruses follow a common evolutionary path, this is not true.
There are other avian strains, H7 and H9, that have been circulating in Europe and the Far East for years without any signs of human adaptation. All of the H5N1 infected humans have had direct contact with infected animals OR intimate and direct contact with infected humans, and there is no evidence of tertiary spread.
The virus is already adapted to humans. It can infect and kill humans and can replicate within the human body. The family clusters in Vietnam show that the H5N1 virus can be passed from human to human during close direct contact. The only thing this virus has not done yet is become easily spread between human to human. Thus the evolutionary jump is not as big as WHO and the MSM are saying. It only has to figure out a way to become highly infectious to humans. (i.e mutate into casual contact virus before the pandemic starts. As the new study on the 1918 flu suggest the virus does not need to mix and match with the human flu nor does it need to evolve into something different. It only needs to find a way to be passed easily between humans. And the News from Indonesia suggest that it is well on its way to doing that.