By Bronwyn Thompson “…..Post-infection mutation and no human-to-human transmission suggests whatever the viral changes, it’s not one that hugely concerns epidemiologists. It would be far worse for someone to become infected with an already altered H5N1 D1.1 strain, which would most likely point to the virus getting closer to cracking the complex code of human-to-human
BY Carolyn Barber“This is how pandemics start,” Rick Bright, the renowned immunologist, vaccine researcher and former federal health official, tells Fortune. “We’ve had months to prepare, to activate and expand surveillance, to educate people about the risk, and even to make vaccines available that can help to reduce the risk of the current form of
By Will Stone “The U.S. has recorded its first death of a person infected with bird flu.The patient was a resident of southwest Louisiana who was hospitalized last month with the first known severe case of bird flu in the country….The patient was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions.”https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/01/06/nx-s1-5250251/bird-flu-death-louisiana “First Bird Flu Death in
By Amy Maxmen “Nearly a year into the first outbreak of the bird flu among cattle, the virus shows no sign of slowing. The U.S. government failed to eliminate the virus on dairy farms when it was confined to a handful of states, by quickly identifying infected cows and taking measures to keep their infections
by Kaitlin Sullivan and Mustafa Fattah “For now, the Canadian teen and the patient in Louisiana are outliers, but the infections illustrate the virus’s ability to cause severe illness — and demonstrates how, during long illnesses, the virus has the chance to mutate to better infect humans.In both of those cases, virus samples showed that
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the current risk to humans remains low, and that pasteurized milk products remain safe to consume. But should human-to-human transmission become commonplace, experts fear a pandemic that could be far more deadly than Covid-19.On Thursday, the administration said it was committing $306
By Alice Park “As bird flu continues to ramp up, many are wondering what tools—namely, vaccines—we have to fight it if such intervention becomes necessary.”“What about an mRNA vaccine for H5N1?There isn’t one yet, but several companies—including Moderna, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (in collaboration with CureVac)—are working on such a shot. In July, the U.S. government’s