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Originally posted by makeitso
I thought I would help out. Here's what the BJM says.
BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.38649.389005.DE (published 24 October 2005)
The lack of sustained human-to-human transmission suggests that this AH5N1 avian virus does not currently have the capacity to cause a human pandemic. But, given the known potential for antigenic shift—either from a gradual process of adaptive genetic mutation within the virus or by a snap gene reassortment with a human influenza A virus6—the virus could acquire the mechanism for rapid human transmission and cause explosive global spread, facilitated by current air travel. Pigs and humans seem to be the “mixing vessels” for genetic exchange when coinfected by both animal and human flu viruses. Close domestic proximity of fowl, pigs, and people facilitates this, a situation common in Asia.