Reply #24: That's more or less what I meant [View All]

[depakid]

H5N1 has already jumped to humans- straight to humans. No swine required- although swine are an obvious concern, since they harbor both common A strains and H5N1. The probability for genetic exchange is there alright- but that vector isn't necessarily required.

Big cats get N5N1 too.... And they also harbor A strains (apparently, they don't sick from human variants but they die from H5N1).

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996352

WHO did issue a couple if CSR's back in August about the concerns over swine- but unfortunately, due to conditions in asia- from rural swamps to fetid slums- I think it's unrealistic to expect that swine & poultry raising habits can be changed substantially.