Mutated Bird Flu Sparks Pandemic Concerns: Study Reveals Potential Transmission Risk 

United States: According to official reports, four human cases of bird flu have been identified this year, all linked to cattle farm exposure. Additionally, 143 dairy herds across a dozen US states have been contaminated with the virus. 

Bird Flu’s Human Risk 

Scientists warn that the H5N1 bird flu virus could become a pandemic like COVID-19, having already decimated populations of seals and cats. 

Study Findings 

Published in Nature, the study examined the virus affecting cows and assessed the potential human risk. The H5N1 virus extracted from an infected cow was found to spread to the mammary glands of mice and some ferrets. 

Expert Insights 

Keith Poulson, the co-author of the study and director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said, “There’s good news and bad news,” as salon.com reported. 

Poulson noted that the research provided a model for infecting lab animals and observed that the virus spread to various organs, including the brain, intestines, kidneys, heart, and lungs. 

The virus is also transmitted from female mice to their pups through milk. 

Moreover, as experts noted, influenza viruses generally spread rapidly in winter. However, they are more potent and dangerous than bird flu, as they spread readily among mammals through tough droplets in the air, expelled through sneezes or coughs by the infected. 

The study showed that the current prevalent strain of bird flu is not potent enough for respiratory transmission, which is great news. 

However, as Poulson added, “The bad news is that this will attach to both sets of sialic acid receptors.” 

Poulson explains that these receptors are present across the upper respiratory tract of humans. In the case of birds, the H5N1 strains generally attack different sialic acid receptors. 

Now, it has adapted to attach mammalian receptors, giving the virus more ability to be transmitted between people. 

Therefore, Poulson stated, “So we really need to pay attention to this virus; we can’t let it continue to be endemic in our dairy herds,” as salon.com reported.