Changes to bird flu virus could make human transmission more likely, scientists say
New research finds that the accumulation of several mutations in the main gene on the H7N9 virus may give it the ability to spread like human flu viruses.
The H7N9 bird flu virus has influenza scientists on edge, due to an unexpected surge of human infections — hundreds of cases — caused by the virus this spring.
Some new scientific findings aren’t likely to ratchet down those concerns.
Scientists at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, Calif., reported Thursday that the accumulation of several mutations in the main gene on the virus’s surface may be able to give H7N9 the ability to spread like human flu viruses do, passing from person to person through coughing and sneezing. , funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
