Bird flu virus. 3D illustration of an avian influenza H5N8 virus particle. The virus consists of a ribonucleic acid (RNA, orange coils) core, surrounded by a nucleocapsid (purple) and a lipid envelope (orange). Spanning the capsid and envelope are M2 proteins (yellow), that act as proton pumps. In the envelope are two types of protein spike, hemagglutinin (H, green) and neuraminidase (N, pink), which determine the strain of virus. This strain of the virus has caused disease in wild birds and poultry in Europe and Asia since June 2016. Unusually, the virus causes mortality in wild birds, which are more often silent carriers. As of December 2016 no human cases of the disease have been reported, and risk of transmission to humans is thought to be low. |