Mutating viruses from animals that are now infecting humans pose a serious health threat that could reach pandemic proportions, scientists warned yesterday. The warning came following reports of another fatality due to infection from a new strain of the avian virus.

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The new avian strain, the H10N8, has infected only two people to date. One of two infected, a 73 year old woman died from the infection while the other, another female victim remains in critical condition.  Despite only two infections, the worrisome fact is that the animal virus has mutated and can now infect humans.

A report on the first human infection by the H10N8, a new and more potent strain, was made in December and the second case reported only last week according to Chinese authorities. 

Previously the H7N9 has infected almost 300 people from different parts of China. Sixty of those infected had died from the infection. Yesterday, 11 new cases of H7N9 infections were reported from four provincial regions.  Four of the cases are from Guangdong and another four in Zhejang.

According to Chinese scientists who undertook a genetic analysis of samples of the H10N8 virus extracted from the recent female fatality, the new strain has a new genetic makeup different from known bird flu virus strains.

A cause of concern is that, like the H7N9, the new strain now has "some genetic characteristics that may allow it to replicate efficiently in humans," according to Shu Yuelong of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing.

Meanwhile, John McCauley, head of the WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza at Britain's National Institute for Medical Research said that the recent manifestation of the H7N9 and the H10N8 should make us aware of the possibility of humans getting infected by animal flu viruses.

McCauley, however, commented that the risk of person to person infection with the H10N8 "seems low since the H10N8 virus is not expected to be transmitted well between humans."