Fergie's Tech Blog

H5N1 News: Study Finds Two Separate Bird Flu Strains

A Reuters newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

The H5N1 strain of bird flu in humans has evolved into two separate strains, U.S. researchers reported on Monday, which could complicate developing a vaccine and preventing a pandemic.

One strain, or clade, made people sick in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in 2003 and 2004 and a second, a cousin of the first, caused the disease in people in Indonesia in 2004.

Two clades may share the same ancestor but are distinct — as are different clades, or strains, of the AIDS virus, the team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

posted by Fergie @ 3/20/2006 01:00:00 PM