Research Reveals Possible Answer To Why Bird Flu Is Still Not A Pandemic
March 22, 2006 10:28 p.m. EST, by Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer

Madison, Wisconsin (AHN) - Researchers say that they have found the reason why the deadly bird flu has difficulty transmitting itself from person to person.

The University of Wisconsin tells the journal, Nature, that the H5N1 avian flu virus attaches to cells deep within human airways, and as such is not as easy to pass from one person to another.

Dr. Laurence Tiley, a lecturer in molecular virology at the University of Cambridge, says, "This may at least in part explain why H5N1 is inefficient at transmitting person to person, although I doubt that it is the complete answer."

According to Professor Ian Jones, of the University of Reading, "It seems [those who have died] were just really unlucky and transmitted enough virus to their mouths for it to gain access to the lower lung, a distance shorter in children than adults."

"Casual contact with the virus may therefore not be as dangerous as initially thought."