THE first confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of Asian bird flu was announced as New Scientist went to press.
The 40 people who have caught the H5N1 virus so far appear to have been infected by birds. But on Tuesday the authorities in Thailand announced that a girl infected by chickens in the northern province of Kamphaeng Phet passed the virus to her mother.
The virus may not yet be easily transmissible between humans, and may only have spread in this case because the family members were in extended close contact.
But if it does mutate and become more infectious,…
