We documented a clear difference between bird viruses and human viruses.

I don't think anybody can predict at this time what the future holds for the H5 outbreaks. It's pretty scary.

What we've offering our colleagues in the flu business is to now mine that data themselves and to conduct experiments that are suggested by our results.

Despite the major threat to human health posed by these viruses, there was very little information available on the entire genomes of bird flu viruses. Now we're in a much better position to understand what makes these viruses tick. And that could help us learn how to control the avian influenza viruses that threaten humans.