From Niman's site:
H5N1 has been evolving via recombination. The changes are small but frequent. Currently, there are at least four different versions of H5N1 bird flu circulating. Clade 1 has caused reported human fatalities in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. For clade 2, there are at least three distinct versions. One is in Indonesia. Most of the human cases in Indonesia have a novel HA cleavage site that has not been reported in any avian isolate. In the current paper discussed above, the Indonesia/5/05 isolate was detected in respiratory secretions of infected ferrets. A second clade 2 version is the Fujian strain, which is represented in all public human isolates from China in 2005 and 2006. Thus strain has also been detected in birds in Laos and Malaysia. The third clade 2 strain is the Qinghai strain, that is being transported and transmitted worldwide by migratory birds. There are multiple versions of this strain, but it has cause human fatalities in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Egypt and has also caused a human infection in Djibouti.
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My take on this: the scientists have tried to mix one strain with another strain in ferrets. Nature has the opportunity to try recombination millions of times. Frankly, I'd put my money on Nature.
Just my opinion.
The science that I am used to is about 99% predictable and 1% off the wall. It is highly predictable that the bird flu would not be virulent when combined with the human version. I'm not sure why Spanish flu became the 1%. But Swine flu falls in the 99%.
Then there is the government in all it's wisdom to contend with.
I appreciate Judith Anne's comments.
BA
The group comes from Karo district in North Sumatra province where bird flu killed as many as seven people in an extended family in May, triggering fears the H5N1 bird flu virus had mutated into a form that could spread easily between people.
"Whether it is a new cluster or not, that must be scientifically proved," said Runizar Ruesin, head of the bird flu information centre at Indonesia's health ministry.
He said the seven were admitted to the local Kaban Jahe hospital, with three referred to the state-run Adam Malik hospital.
The latter three are children -- two siblings aged 10 and six and their 18-month-old neighbour.
"I am still waiting for the result of the tests."
Another official said chickens in the area where they lived had died and tested positive for bird flu. Sick poultry is the usual mode of transmission of the disease, endemic in birds in about two-thirds of the country's provinces.