10 April 2013 (02:29 UTC-07 Tango)/29 Jumada l-Ula 1434/21 Farvardin 1391/01 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711

Chinese and Japanese researchers have made independent reports, indicating the new H7N9 is rapidly mutating.  This could explain the difficulty in detecting it.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo said H7N9 samples from four Chinese victims showed noticeable differences in gene sequences, from person to person. The Researchers think the infections were from multiple sources.

In China, researchers at South University of Science and Technology said they noticed rapid mutation in nine of H7N9’s 560 amino acids. They estimate the new virus is mutating eight times faster than ‘normal’ flu viruses: “It happened in just one or two weeks. The speed may not have caught up with the HIV, but it’s quite unusual for a flu.”-He Jiankui, South University of Science and Technology

The rapid mutation will make it almost impossible to develop vaccines or anti-virals for the new ‘bird’ flu.