title: Influenza viruses en route from birds to man.
abstract: Human and other mammalian influenza viruses emerge from a large gene pool provided by avian influenza viruses. Two recent studies (Watanabe et al., 2014; Linster et al., 2014) show that adaptation to a mammalian host depends on a limited number of mutations that allow airborne transmission, a specific trait of the mammalian viruses.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Virologie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35043 Marburg, Germany. Electronic address: klenk@staff.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: Hans Dieter
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Klenk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000502:physiology*; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000821:virology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*