title: Influenza viruses: from birds to humans.
abstract: Avian influenza viruses are the precursors of human influenza A viruses. They may be transmitted directly from avian reservoirs, or infect other mammalian species before subsequent transmission to their human host. So far, avian influenza viruses have caused sporadic-yet increasingly more frequently recognized-cases of infection in humans. They have to adapt to and circulate efficiently in human populations, before they may trigger a worldwide human influenza outbreak or pandemic. Cross-species transmission of avian influenza viruses from their reservoir hosts-wild waterbirds-to terrestrial poultry and to humans is based on different modes of transmission and results in distinctive pathogenetic manifestations, which are reviewed in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Reperant
authors.forename: Thijs
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuiken
authors.forename: Albert D M E
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Osterhaus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D011200:Poultry / Q000821:virology*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*