Why bird flu is a step closer to infecting humans but there's no need to panic just yet 👉 Explained by BawdenTom
However, experts said the mutation seen in the otters and foxes is not likely to be significant enough to make the virus spread quickly through those mammal populations – meaning that, at this point, the risk to humans remains relatively low. But definitely worth keeping a close eye on.
The spike protein is known as haemagglutinin – or HA – but such mutations in the H5N1 virus have not yet occurred in mammals.If H5N1 were to undergo an HA mutation the virus would then be in much greater danger of ripping through mammal populations – significantly increasing the “zoonotic” transfer into humans, which come into much greater contact with these animals than they do birds.
“So the immediate risk around these changes is only moderate, but we ought not to underestimate the ability of flu, or other viruses, to undergo species jumps,” he said. The current dominant variant of the H5N1 bird flu virus – known as 2.3.4.4b – has led to the culling of about 4 million birds such as chickens, ducks and turkeys in the UK, and more than 100 million birds worldwide.
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