Bird flu mutation 'does not increase risk'

A World Health Organisation investigation showed that the H5N1 virus mutated slightly in an Indonesian family cluster on Sumatra island, but bird flu experts today insisted it did not increase the possibility of a human pandemic.

The virus that infected eight members of a family last month – killing seven of them – appears to have slightly mutated in a 10-year-old boy, who was then suspected of passing the virus to his father, the report said.