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Avian flu — the H5N1 virus experts think could out-kill the infamous 1918 pandemic flu — mutates every time it infects a human, according to new research out of Thailand.

Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Greger, of Rockville, warns the bug only needs to find a way to move from person to person, and mutation is its tool of trade.

“We know another pandemic is inevitable; we don’t know when, we don’t know how bad it will be,” said Greger, director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States. “What this new research can show is what mutations we should be concerned about.”

Scientists in Thailand discovered certain mutations in the bird flu  which currently does not transmit efficiently from person to person that could spark a pandemic.

Their study of specimens from three fatal human cases involving H5N1, a “highly pathogenic” type of avian influenza virus, was published recently in the Journal of General Virology.

“Such adaptations may lead to the emergence of a virus that can cause a pandemic,” Dr. Prasert Auewarakul said in a statement.

Auewarakul and four other scientists from Mahidol University in Thailand conducted the research and wrote the paper.

They said their research highlights the need to control infection and transmission to humans to prevent further adaptations.

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