H5N1 influenza virus lab-created mutant has a 200-fold preference for binding with receptors in human cells

[Emily]

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12144.html

Receptor binding by a ferret-transmissible H5 avian influenza virus

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Mutant version of H5N1 flu virus found to be more preferential to human infection

April 25, 2013 by Bob Yirka in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Medical Xpress)?An international team of bio-researchers has found that a mutant strain of the H5N1 influenza virus (created in a lab) has a 200-fold preference for binding with receptors in human cells, over those found in birds. In describing their research and conclusions in their paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers suggest that the mutant variant is much more like the strains of viruses that caused pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 2009, than it was in its native state.