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Usually these flu viruses are carried worldwide by wild bird populations in their intestines and are non-lethal. However this variant has mutated into the most lethal strain of influenza ever recorded says Mike Davis, author of The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu. Such occurrences are natural and have happened in the past has in the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic.

The current virus is morphing into a type that is spread among humans with the first human-to-human cases found in Vietnam during 2005. When avian influenza subtypes adapt for this mode of transmission the effect is deadly for humans as the immune system has no natural immunities for it and the production of appropriate antibodies to fight the infection takes some time.

Further complicating the effort to combat H5N1, it was reported that the People's Republic of China has been illegally administering the medication Amantadine to poultry; the result has been that the virus is now largely immune to the medication and is significantly deadlier. World Health Organization officials had been preparing to use the drug to fight a future pandemic and now it has been rendered useless.

Chinese government officials have said more than 1,000 migratory birds have been found dead during 2005 and there have been unofficial Internet reports of one hundred and twenty related human fatalities that are strongly denied by Beijing. The United Nations has criticized the Chinese government for withholding vital information to fight the virus as it did in the SARS outbreak.

Margaret Chan, WHO director of pandemic influenza preparedness is pressing China to allow laboratories to examine specimens from birds in Qinghai, where the H5N1 virus has killed more than 5,000 birds from five species. Recombinomics has found Chinese message boards indicating part of Qinghai province may be under martial law and quarantine.

Three outbreaks of H5N1 have affected China in recent months but the World Health Organization has not received the information or the virus samples from infected birds that they requested. "It is a matter of urgency," said Roy Wadia, the WHO's speaker in China. "We stress that this virus is highly unpredictable and versatile and can change any time. It is highly dangerous."

Sources

• "China to stop using human flu drug on poultry". New Scientist, July 23, 2005
  
• "Bird flu: we're all going to die". The Register, July 23, 2005
  
• "CDC Warns of Deadly Bird Flu Pandemic". Fox News, July 23, 2005
  
• "Signs point to global flu outbreak, WHO says". The China Post, July 23, 2005
  
• "Signs point to global influenza oubreak--WHO warning". Reuters, July 24, 2005
  
• "China withholds vital information for tackling deadly bird flu virus". The Telegraph, July 24, 2005
  
• "China Withholds Key H5N1 Bird Flu Data". Recombinomics, July 24, 2005