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Bird Flu, or H5N1 Virus - What is It?
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Numerous viruses, which cause flu in humans, are combined into 3 types: A, B, and C. Viruses of type A are characteristic not only for humans, but for other mammals and also birds. Apart from humans, these viruses have been discovered in horses, pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks, turkeys, wild resident and migrant birds.
The virus is transmitted by air. The fact is that type A viruses are characterized by the presence of two obligatory protein components. One is called hemagglutinin and is lettered H, and the other—neuraminidase (N). There are 13 variants of hemagglutinin and 9 of neuraminidase. Those components are what constitutes the difference between the two viruses.
Thus, H5N1 is just out of the many possible variants of the virus structure.
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