US warning: Bird flu could lead to new pandemic
US warning: Bird flu could lead to new pandemic experts believe that the bird flu virus may pose a potential threat to a future pandemic, amid noticeable signs of the virus mutating, through its spread among cows, and infecting some humans in the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 58 positive cases of bird flu
have been reported in the United States this year.
At this time, there are no confirmed indications of human-to-human transmission, as US health authorities still assess the risk to public health as “low.”
The H5N1 virus faces several obstacles that prevent it from spreading easily among humans, the most important of which is the need for a genetic mutation to infect more effectively in the lungs. Studies published in the journal Science have indicated that the strain of bird flu spreading among American
cows is now one mutation away from spreading more easily among humans.
It is noteworthy that avian influenza A (H5N1) first appeared in China in 1996, and since 2020 has witnessed a significant increase in the number of foci among birds, with increasing numbers of
animal species infected and spreading to new areas such as Antarctica.
Bird flu shows mutations in first serious human case
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday its analysis of samples from the country’s first severe case of bird flu last week showed mutations not seen in samples from an
infected flock in the patient’s backyard.
The CDC said the patient’s sample showed mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA) gene, the part of
the virus that plays a key role in its attachment to host cells, but that did not change the risk to the general public from the outbreak and remains low.
Recently, the United States announced the first severe case of the virus, in a Louisiana resident over
65 who had been suffering from severe respiratory illness.
The patient was infected with the D1.1 gene of the virus that has recently been detected in wild birds
and poultry in the United States, not the B3.13 gene that has been detected in dairy cattle, human
cases and some poultry in multiple states.
The mutations seen in the patient are rare, but have been reported in some cases in other countries
and most often during severe infection, and one mutation was seen in another severe case from British Columbia, Canada.
No transmission of the infection from the Louisiana patient to other people has been identified,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
