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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Deadly New Bird Flu Strain Spawned by Virus Behind H5N1


The new bird flu that’s infected two people in China, killing one, was spawned by the same pathogen that produced two other deadly flu strains, a study found.
The new H10N8 strain, which hasn’t previously been reported in humans, contains six out of eight....
 ....H10N8 contains a mutation that helps it adapt to mammals, and may enable the virus to become more infectious, the researchers, led by Yuelong Shu at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote.
“The pandemic potential of this novel virus should not be underestimated,” Shu and colleagues wrote. “Although we cannot predict whether an H10N8 epidemic will occur, our findings suggest that the virus is a potential threat to people.”
The dead woman had visited a live poultry market a few days before becoming unwell, though the virus wasn’t found in samples collected later from the market and the source of infection remains unknown, the researchers said...  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-04/deadly-new-bird-flu-strain-spawned-by-virus-behind-h5n1.html