Influenza Survey Uncovers Key Differences Between Bird Flu and Human Flu

**Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found key features that distinguish influenza viruses found in birds from those that infect humans.** The St. Jude team used a mathematical technique to identify specific amino acid building blocks that are statistically more likely to appear in **avian influenza virus proteins** and those that are more likely to be in **human influenza virus proteins**. The differences in these amino acids can be used as markers to track changes in **H5N1** avian influenza strains that threaten humans. “Influenza mutates rapidly, so that any marker that is not the same in bird flu but remains stable in human flu is likely to be important,” said David Finkelstein, PhD, research associate at the St. Jude Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology. “If human specific markers start accumulating in bird flu viruses that infect humans, that suggests that the bird flu may be adapting to humans and could spread.” ... Whole article on "infectioncontroltoday":[ http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/hotnews/78h2014553442793.html]

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