HN avian influenza virus particles coloured transmission electron micrograph TEM These particles were isolated from a human victim in Vietnam The virus was first detected in birds in in SouthEast Asia and by early it had spread across much of Asia and Europe It is carried by wild birds which are generally not affected by it but it is nearly always fatal to poultry and domestic birds The virus is excreted in bird faeces and humans inhaling faecal matter have contracted the disease which had claimed around lives by spring There are fears that it could mutate into a form capable of spreading directly from human to human which could claim hundreds of thousands of lives The name HN relates to the subtypes of the viral surface proteins Haemagglutinin and Neuraminidase Magnification x when printed cm tall