Scientists have found the gene 'key' to prevent avian flu virus from spreading to humans

British researchers have found a human gene model that has the ability to prevent most strains of bird flu virus from infecting humans.

According to Reuters news agency, the bird flu virus mainly spreads between wild birds and poultry such as ducks, seagulls, chickens and quails. Although the virus mainly affects animals, in rare cases, people who come into close contact with birds may be infected .

Avian flu viruses mainly spread between wild birds and poultry such as ducks, gulls, chickens and quails. (Photo: Reuters)

A group of scientists from the Center for Virus Research at MRC University, Glasgow, studied hundreds of gene samples commonly found in human cells, comparing the behavior of the genes during infection with human seasonal influenza viruses. or avian flu virus.

They focused on a gene called BTN3A3 , found in the human upper and lower respiratory tract. This gene was found to have the ability to prevent the replication of most strains of avian influenza in human cells. BTN3A3 appears to be the key factor that determines whether any avian influenza virus strain has pandemic potential in humans.

However, the antiviral activity of this gene cannot protect against seasonal influenza viruses. According to the researchers, all human influenza pandemics, including the 1918-1919 global influenza pandemic, were caused by BTN3A3-resistant influenza viruses.

Naturally, viruses always mutate and this does not mean that the avian flu virus cannot evolve to escape the activity of BTN3A3.

Earlier this year, a new strain of H5N1 bird flu that is easily transmitted among wild birds spread globally, infecting and killing many mammals, raising fears of a human pandemic. To date, only a few cases of avian influenza virus transmission to humans have been recorded by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Professor Massimo Palmarini, one of the authors of the study, said that about 50% of H5N1 strains circulating globally by 2023 will be resistant to BTN3A3. 'This is the kind of thing that we should pay special attention to because the level of risk is increasingly high ,' warns Sam Wilson, another co-author of the study.