Bird flu virus mutating, says study

Scientists in Vietnam, where bird flu has killed 42 people, said the H5N1 influenza virus had mutated into a more dangerous form that could breed more effectively in mammals, state media said on Sunday.

The online newspaper Vnexpress quoted Cao Bao Van, director of the Molecule Biology Department of the Pasteur Institute, Vietnam, as saying that the decoding of 24 samples of the virus taken from poultry and humans showed antigen variation.

The study said the virus developed resistance to anti-flu agents —Amatadine and Rimantadine.Van said the study also found a mutation of the PB2 gene in a virus sample from a patient who died earlier this year.