[bonfire]

I read somewhere here on FR that last year it had 8 mutations to go til human to human. It's already on it's 6th mutation.

Don't know if that's true or not?

[Termite_Commander]

Yup. They found it needs two mutatations on the Glycine Receptor Array to become highly transmissible between mammals. I can't remember where the article is. I'll look around and see if I can find it for you.

Also, I think that it may actually only need one mutation, because the change at 190 increased its transmissibility and virulence, and the other mutation only reduced its affinity for birds.

That's why you've got people saying things like this now.

John Oxford, Professor of Virology at Barts, claims the likelihood of a human avian flu pandemic was "high and within a span of, say, 18 months".

Human Avian flu pandemic risk increases

[XEHRpa]

> I read somewhere here on FR that last year it had 8 mutations to go til human to human. It's already on it's 6th mutation.

That's eight degrees of separations until it gets to Kevin Bacon. From there it's anyone's guess. < /sarcasm>

[grey_whiskers]

MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) - The world is one step away from a bird flu pandemic that cannot be averted by quarantine or vaccination, a Russian expert said Tuesday. "One amino-acid replacement in the genome remains to make the virus transferable from human to human," said Dmitry Lvov, the director of a virology research institute at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

From this thread.

Tick...tick...tick... (short Tyson Foods and Chick-Fil-A)...tick..