PARIS, Nov 8 (Reuters) - France has stepped up its bird flu risk assessment to 'high' from 'moderate', it said on Friday in a decree that will trigger reinforced security measures around poultry farms.
Pigs are the ideal genetic mixing vessel to generate a human pandemic influenza strain, because they have receptors in their respiratory tracts which both avian and human flu viruses can bind to.
After more than two years of talks, hopes are high of completing an accord by November 15, though the heart of the document—how to share pathogens and vaccines—is set to be worked out later.
...finding bird flu in a pig raises worries that the virus may be hitting a stepping stone to becoming a bigger threat to people, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown University pandemic researcher.
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