HKU scientists look to take the lead on bird flu

Despite the rush by scientists to decipher the nature of the latest outbreak of bird flu, the virus and its relatives have been under the radar of a local research team for more than a decade.

Months before the emergence of H7N9, Malik Peiris, virologist at the University of Hong Kong and leader of the institution's bird flu research team, warned that the virus could cause the next major disease outbreak in Hong Kong.

"Bird flu viruses are very efficient in mixing their genes and changing, so they are really one of the best experts in jumping from animal to human," Peiris said.

Since the outbreak of H5N1 in 1997, his team has been focusing on research into avian influenza and other diseases that jump from animals to humans, such as Sars.

"It is these emerging diseases that suddenly come out of nowhere that cause the biggest impact," he said, adding that about 70 per cent of newly emerging diseases come from animals, most of them being viruses.

Though the H7N9 virus that recently emerged on the mainland was new to the scientific world, it has the "engine" of H9N2 - a disease well established in poultry - since six of its genes are from that virus.

Peiris' team has been studying the mutations of H9N2 that allowed it to transmit to humans. One of these mutations was found in H7N9, but further study is needed to understand the full process.