This is a recent report on NewScientist.com: “The bird flu that ravaged east Asian birds earlier in 2004, and killed 23 people, is a super-fit mutant that evolved in southern China, reveal scientists. It emerged in ducks and chickens over the past two years, they say.
The Chinese scientists who traced the H5N1 flu virus’s descent warn that it is still evolving, and could give rise to a severe pandemic in humans. They also fear it might now be impossible to eradicate it in east Asia. ”
The full article is here.
