Avian flu virus mutating into a human patient

An analysis of samples from the first US patient diagnosed with a severe form of avian influenza has revealed mutations in the virus that have not been seen in other cases of A/H5N1 infection reported in other countries, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared. In all instances, analyses indicate that the mutations developed in the patient and did not spread to his contacts. On 13 December, the Louisiana Department of Health announced the hospitalisation of a 65-year-old male patient in critical condition due to infection with the avian influenza A/H5N1 virus. Specifically, the Louisiana patient had unique mutations in the gene for haemagglutinin, the surface protein responsible for the virus’s ability to bind to human cells. According to the CDC, the mutations were likely produced by the virus replication in the patient with advanced disease, as the tests did not detect this feature in the animal samples analysed. The results of an Italian study currently being published, conducted by researchers from the University Campus Bio-Medico in Rome and the University of Sassari concluded that, while human infections are isolated events resulting from direct or environmental exposure to infected animals, each event of spread represents a potential step towards adaptation of the virus and its wider transmission.