LISBON, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The bird flu virus is only two mutations away from a form that can spread easily among people, a UN official said in an interview published in Portugal on Saturday.

    "Only two mutations are needed for it to become easily transmissible among humans," thus sparking a pandemic in which millions of people could die, David Nabarro, the world body's coordinator on avian influenza, told Portuguese newspaper Expresso.

    "I wake up every morning thinking that today could be the day that I will see a report about a strange case of bird flu among humans," he said.

    The UN official added that he has told governments around the world to prepare for the arrival of a human to human strain of thevirus "as if this will happen tomorrow."

    Since the re-emergence of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Asia in 2003, the World Health Organization has reported a total of 166 confirmed human cases as of Feb. 9 this year, of which 88 people have died in seven countries.

    Scientists fear the virus could soon mutate to become easily transmissible among people and cause a global pandemic similar to the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. Enditem