Avian influenza viruses typically require several mutations to adapt and spread among humans, but what happens when just one change can increase the risk of becoming a pandemic virus? A recent study ...

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

H5N1 bird flu samples collected from a severely ill patient in Louisiana show signs of mutations that may make the virus more transmissible to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ...

The CDC has confirmed 66 human cases of bird flu in the U.S., but no human-to-human transmission has been detected. The outbreak has severely impacted the American egg industry, leading to near-record ...

In early December 2024, a group of researchers published an article in the journal Science, entitled “A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptors”.

Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute are reporting that it would take just a single mutation in the version of bird flu that has swept through U.S. dairy herds to produce a virus adept at ...

Scientists have discovered that H5N1, the strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus currently spreading in U.S. dairy cows, only needs a single mutation to readily latch on to human cells ...