Posted on 11/28/2005 10:20:40 AM PST by conservativecorner
The H5N1 strain of bird flu seen in human cases in China has mutated as compared with strains found in human cases in Vietnam.
Chinese labs have found that the genetic order of the H5N1 virus seen in humans infected in China is different from that found in humans in Vietnam, Xinhua news agency reported Monday.
In China's human cases, the virus has mutated "to a certain degree," health ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an was quoted as saying.
"But the mutation cannot cause human-to-human transmission of the avian flu," he noted.
China this month confirmed its first three human cases of bird flu, two of which were fatal. The disease has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.
Health officials fear that the virus could mutate to the extent where it is easily transmitted from human-to-human, an event that could lead to a global pandemic capable of killing hundreds of millions of people.
Don't sweat it. It's just "micro-evolution."
This is one of those times that I think Drudge is an ass. I found that story by visiting the Drudge Report and got a little nervous when I read his headline.
The truth of the matter is that the influenza virus mutates all the time. Nothing particularly newsworthy about that, unless you're a viral geneticist. The newsworthy mutation is when it jumps from animal-human transmission to human-human transmission.
Drudge trumpeting that headline was a real yellow journalism moment.
I'm really not concerned. It's very likely that any mutation that allows human to human transmission would also likely limit the viruses effects. We may just end up with the 7 day Avian "Cold".
Thanks for posting. TigerLikesRooster has posted an article today, translated from Boxun that is very alarming. Just a minute, I'll go get a link.
I was hoping someone would point this out. I'll just repeat it. If it mutates so as to allow human to human transmission, we will take note.
Me too. I read the headline and my stomach got hot.
This is not news.
Let's see....riots, famine, plagues, fires, floods, wars.....something about the Book of Revelations comes to one's mind....hummm.....
This reminds me of the Andromeda Strain...
I have become of the opinion that virtually all "journalism" is yellow!
Firstly; it is written buy people not trained in anything but the art of writing (and that is in doubt much of the time). They are not writing on topics of which they have a intimate or working knowledge, for the vast majority of them have no specialty,
Journalists write what they hear.....not what they "know", and it is common knowledge that hearing is a very imperfect mechanism.
The level of "fear mongering" going on in the press by journalists today is indicative of not being knowledgeable enough to comprehend the "real story".
THE SKY IS FALLING!!! WE ARE BEING INVADED BY MUTANTS!!!
Must be the "Mutant Ninja Bird Flu".
"But the mutation cannot cause human-to-human transmission of the avian flu," he noted.
Bad news for ID fans. They might not get sick, but they will get perplexed.
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