The dreaded avian flu poses a great danger to India as well because India is also a destination for migratory birds that carry pathogen H5N1. The wild birds that carry this pathogen breed at the Qinghai lake in western China. This is one of the most important breeding locations for migratory birds over winter in South East China, Tibet and India. They carry the potential of spreading the disease during their stay in India.
In his important paper published in the important journal Science, Dr George Gao Fu, Director of Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made this revelation. Dr Gao is an international repute in his field. He is now looking for a doorway — the one through which bird flu is able to jump species and infect humans.
As director of the Beijing based institute, he is overseeing the research project funded by the Ministry of Sciences to examine virus transmission. He believes that viruses need a pathway to enter the human body or any foreign animal species. Generally speaking bird flu cannot jump to humans because the hosts are different.
