Bird Flu Isn't Becoming More Transmissible to Humans (Update1)

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The virus that causes bird flu hasn't become more easily transmissible to humans as the disease spreads in birds across Europe, the World Health Organization said.

The H5N1 virus has undergone ``a number of changes,'' none of which make the virus more easily spread from birds to humans or from person to person, the Geneva-based agency said in a statement on its Web site today. Those changes include the ability to be carried by migratory waterfowl over long distances and kill them in large numbers, the WHO said.

``Human infections remain a rare event,'' the WHO said.

At least 92 of the 170 people known to have been infected with avian influenza have died, mainly in Asia, according to the WHO. Most of the people who have contracted the virus handled infected poultry or came in contact with their excrement. No human cases have been linked to exposure to wild birds. Cooking meat and eggs properly kills the virus, according to the WHO.