It looks like it may not affect most people from the current research they are doing:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/05/04...eut/index.html
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- People who have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus might be especially susceptible to avian viruses because they are genetically predisposed to them, leading disease experts suggested on Thursday.
Of the 205 reported cases of human infections since late 2003, many have involved blood relatives, such as father and children, mothers and daughters. Of the total infections, 113 people died in nine countries.
"There have been family clusters. So there has to be certainly a genetic aspect to it," Robert Webster of the St Jude Children's Research Hospital told a bird flu conference organized by the Lancet medical journal in Singapore.
Another leading expert, Hiroshi Kida, who has spent more than three decades working on viruses, has long held the same theory.
"There has not been a single case of infection involving husband and wife," Kida said told Reuters. Kida is with the department of disease control at Hokkaido University in Japan.
Kida explained that people infected with H5N1 have a carbohydrate receptor on cells lining their throats. The receptor -- called alpha 2,3 -- is predominantly found in birds. Avian influenza viruses like to bind to this class of receptors to replicate and cause disease.
Human influenza viruses, however, prefer to bind to another receptor called alpha 2,6, which is dominant in humans.
"I think people who are infected with avian strains are special. They must have alpha 2,3 receptors," Kida said.
(more of the article at the above link)
