The study conducted by various experts from Japan, Indonesia and the United States revealed that dependency of the H5N1 bird flu on the presence 100 specific genes (proteins). Replication of this virus can be stopped by blocking the interaction between this virus and these proteins. This research team was led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Paul Ahlquist of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This study was the evaluation of the results obtained by experiments conducted over a fruit fly. The fruit fly has on 14000 genes which can be studied easily. The fly was injected with flu virus to identify the host molecules that are required in the each stage of virus replication, as fruit flies are not susceptible to influenza; it was injected with slightly modified H5N1.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a leading virologist and bird flu expert at the University of Tokyo in Japan said that three genes out of 100 genes that are required for virus replication are present in human body. He added, "If you could inhibit (block) the interaction between those (host) proteins and influenza virus proteins, you can inhibit virus replication. This can be a target for development of new drugs."

Bird flu is mainly a disease among birds but it has taken life of 243 humans out of 385 people infected by it since 2003. This disease is not easily communicated from one human to other but according to the scientists it can trigger a pandemic killing millions of people if it ever becomes easily transmitted among humans.

This study can help in developing antiviral which is urgent because scientists have traced the presence of H5N1 virus that are resistant to the currently available antiviral drug. The researchers are hopeful that this kind of study can also help in making antiviral diseases including AIDS recognizing the host factors such as proteins and carbohydrates that a virus commandeers to successfully infect a cell.