Editorial: The clock is ticking

THERE are certain warnings signs that really should be acted upon. This week's announcement by health officials in Thailand of the first probable human-to-human spread of the H5N1 bird flu is one of those signs. The virus may not be spreading easily among humans yet - on this occasion it passed only after sustained contact between a girl and her distraught mother - but to ignore it would be reckless.

When a virus adapts to a new host, it faces two challenges. It must deflect the host's immune response enough to replicate. Then the hordes of newly made virus particles must find a way out so they can infect others. H5N1 has learned to grow in people. It may now be finding the escape route. This is worrying, not least because the virus has so far killed three out of every four people it has infected.

What we need is ...

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