What's the genetic mechanism in avian flu preventing human to human transmission? If the flu evolved for it to be readily transmissible, would it still be as lethal?
The flu isn't lethal enough. You need to find a way to make a hemorrhagic disease more capable of surviving outside the host. That's where the real nightmare comes from.
>>16973930Receptor glykosylation from what I remember. The avian version can still thrive in the deeper respiratory tissue but fails to bind in the upper respiratory tract of certain mammals.
Birds have a very different respiratory system from mammals.
>>16974054So if the receptor changed, would anything about the lethality change? Or is its ability to bind to lower respiratory what makes it deadly?
