'Very low' risk of bird flu spreading between humans: UK gov't scientist

[deadparrot]

LONDON (AFP) - The likelihood of the lethal H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus mutating into a form that can be transmitted between humans is "very low", the British government's chief scientific adviser said.

David King was speaking after a dead swan discovered in eastern Scotland this week was found to have the H5N1 strain of the disease, prompting speculation that the virus could spread throughout Britain.

But although the scientist acknowledged that transmission of the disease from birds to humans could trigger a global pandemic, he said it was "totally misleading" to say it was inevitable.

"The pandemic flu that we are now talking about would be in the human population. It is not in the human population at the moment," he told ITV1 television.