# 359
A sad commentary, perhaps, but pigs and people share a lot in common. Including influenza viruses. There is more than a little concern that a pig carrying a human strain of influenza, like the H1N1, or H3N2 virus might become infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, and swap genetic material between them, creating a new `hybrid flu'. One that would have the transmissability of seasonal flu, but the higher lethality of a novel pandemic strain.
It is also possible that a human with seasonal flu, who became infected with the H5N1 virus from a bird, might also produce this hybrid.
This from a conference in China on Infection Prevention.
Bird flu in pigs poses human risk
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-26 09:08Scientists said two pigs on the Indonesian island of Bali had become infected with the bird flu virus, again raising concerns the deadly flu virus could become transmissible between people.
Speaking at a China-Japan infection prevention conference in Guangzhou, a leading Chinese medical expert said the pigs generated a variant of the bird flu virus after they contracted bird flu.
The pigs acted as a kind of mixing vessel in which genetic material from avian flu viruses combined with other influenza strains, said Zhong Nanshan, a renowned medical expert and academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Some pig organs are similar to human organs, suggesting that a similar mixing of flu genetic material could occur in humans, said Zhong.
The best way to prevent bird flu is to dispose of infected birds as quickly as possible, establish stringent quarantine requirements and treat human patients rapidly, Zhong said.
