Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds

The H5N1 strain started sweeping through dairy farms in March

(Image credit: Matthew Ludak for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

published 6 December 2024

What happened

A single genetic mutation could turn the H5N1 avian flu virus infecting U.S. dairy herds into a version transmissible between humans, researchers at Scripps Research Institute reported Thursday in the journal Science.

The H5N1 strain that started sweeping through dairy farms in March has infected 58 people working with infected cattle and poultry, the CDC said, though only with mild symptoms and no known human-to-human transmission. "All that can change if the virus mutates in the wrong way," The Washington Post said. The Scripps team found that one genetic tweak could enable the hemagglutinin proteins, or spikes, on the virus to latch onto and penetrate human respiratory cells, allowing viral spread among people.

The study is "significant, but it shouldn't cause alarm," Emory University virologist Anice Lowen said to NPR. There are likely "other changes a virus would need to go through to efficiently transmit in humans and cause a pandemic," though the massive "potential human exposure out there" does pose a "great risk" of such mutation. "If there is a bird flu pandemic soon," columnist Zeynep Tufekci said last week in The New York Times, "it will be among the most foreseeable catastrophes in history."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.