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Published online 29 September 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040927-12

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Bird flu may have passed between humans

Infected Thai family alerts health officials to fresh danger.

An outbreak of avian influenza in a family in Thailand has raised fears that the virus might have been transferred directly between humans.

If the strain has mutated to allow easy person-to-person transmission, this opens up the possibility of a large-scale epidemic of the deadly virus.

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