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Human-to-human transmission of avian flu virus, if/when it occurs on a large scale, will be like all other virus spread. Coughing and sneezing puts aerosolized droplets in the air to be inhaled by people in the vicinity. Touching a contaminated surface, then your face, without disinfecting your hands first, will infect.

Some cases of human-to-human transmission have occurred in Asia, among close family members--brother to brother, daughter to mother, to aunt, if I recall what I read correctly.

So far, most people get it from infected birds, but the Avian flu virus can combine with other viruses--even other flu viruses when they both divide in the same cell and exchange DNA. This has almost surely occurred already, many times. Sometimes the resulting mutation is innocent, sometimes not. Eventually, a human-to-human virus will form that is easily contagious and quickly spread. This is where every flu virus that affects us comes from, and how it happens. It will be no different for Avian flu H5N1.

It's only a matter of time. Many millions of chickens in Asia have been destroyed in an effort to contain this deadly virus, but it has been around since 1997, and one of these years, maybe this one, it WILL spread.

In regard to aviun flu combining with other strains - I think I read that one of the ones they are most concerned with is a swine strain, that if that combines with the avian, it would become far easier for it to be tranmitted from animal to human and then from human to human.

I'm not as up on the latest strains as I used to be, but do try to keep semi-up-to-date, just because of the region where I live. Poultry is big business here, particularly chickens.......heck among my closest neighbors are about 150,000 broiler/fryers!!!!

All kidding aside, a mutating strain that could be passed from the poultry to humans would be devastating, in so many ways and in so many places.