Most humans who get infected with an H5 variant of the flu virus die from it

A group of scientists say that they have worked out how the influenza virus which infects birds can jump to the human species. They hope for that their research will be used to discover a vaccine to protect the human race from the deadly bird flu virus as well as other types of influenza. There are many different variants of the influenza virus but very few have actually managed to hop from birds to humans and that is a good thing as the human body cannot recognise a bird flu virus and thus its effects are lethal.

Most bird flu viruses are categorised as H1 and H3 but other types which are mainly found in poultry and wild birds are categorized as H5 and it is when this type of virus attacks a human that the effects are very serious because the human immune system cannot recognize it and therefore cannot destroy it. Most humans who get infected with an H5 variant of the flu virus die from it unless they get drugs like Tamiflu immediately.

The researchers said the reason the H1 and H3 types of the influenza virus were more effective in infecting humans was to do with the shape of the sugar receptors found in the cells of the human lung. The H5 version of the flu virus was not able to bind so easily to the sugar receptors in the human lung but was much more able to do so in birds due to their different sugar receptor shapes. Previously it had been thought that the H5 virus itself was changing slightly in a “genetic switch” and that was what enabled it to latch onto humans.

This probably sounds extremely confusing to the average man but the good news is scientists say that it will enable them to come up with different ways of tackling the bird flu virus and also help scientists identify any particular strains of influenza viruses which could be dangerous to humans.