A new analysis confirmed that bird flu did spread from person to person in Indonesia in April. Since 2003, the H5N1 avian flu virus has infected 322 people and killed 195. Almost all of the victims have been infected directly by birds. But a few clusters of cases have been seen for which no other explanation can be found except person-to-person transmission.

The Indonesian cluster began with a 37-year-old woman who had been exposed to dead poultry and chicken feces. It appears she then passed the virus to her 10-year-old nephew who then passed it on to his father. The possibility that the boy infected his father was supported by genetic sequencing data. All but one of these flu victims died.

Researchers now estimate that the secondary-attack rate, which is the risk that one person will infect another, is at about 29%. That is much higher than previously thought, and probably indicates that there is a mutated version of the virus that passes more easily from human-to-human. It is still not pandemic level -- yet -- but while the general public has forgotten about bird flu, virologists are more worried than ever about a pandemic.

There are a few companies out there working to create vaccines and antivirals in preparation for a possible avian flu pandemic. One of my favorites it BioCryst (BCRX), which has a vaccine in trials right now.