Bird flu virus isolated from hospitalized Canadian teen shows signs of human adaptation | Health [Video]

(CNN) — The avian flu virus isolated from a hospitalized teenager in Vancouver has mutations in key areas that could help the virus spread more easily in humans, scientists say.

There is no indication that the mutated virus has traveled beyond this patient. After monitoring of dozens of potential contacts among the teen’s friends, family and health care providers, “no further cases have been identified,” Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer for British Columbia, said in a written statement. That means the mutated virus is not spreading or a threat to anyone else.

But scientists say the genetic changes are a reminder of what the virus is capable of if it continues to spread.

“Certainly, this is one of the first times that we’ve really seen evidence of these sort of adaptation mutations in H5,” said Dr. Jesse Bloom, a computational virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

The H5N1 bird flu virus that infected the teen, who is in critical …