TAIPEI, Feb 4 Asia Pulse - Renowned AIDS specialist David Ho warned in Beijing Monday that if the bird flu virus genetically combines with the human influenza virus to create a new virus, the consequences could be serious.

Ho said that the H5N1 avian flu virus, which is more pathogenic than the H5N2 virus, can be transmitted from fowl to humans, but added that the possibility of human-to-human transmission is very low.

However, if the H5N1 virus combines with the H5N2 human influenza virus to create a new H5N2 virus, this might trigger large-scale human-to-human transmissions, Ho said during an interview with reporters from the Hong Kong-based daily Wen Wei Po. He said that such a situation would be extremely serious as no people would be immune to the new virus.

He added that a major, large-scale outbreak of influenza occurs about once every 30 years. The most serious outbreak occurred in 1918, with some 40 million people dying from the disease.

(CNA)