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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this last week. A Louisiana patient was hospitalized with severe bird flu symptoms. There is a mutated strain of the virus.
The fact that the virus mutates within patients suggests that the virus may spread from person to person.
CDC analyzes H5N1 virus samples collected from patients They compared the virus’ genome sequence with that of infected dairy cattle, wild birds, poultry and other animals.
Bird flu leads to severe human illness and emergency.
“The analysis identified low frequency mutations in the hemagglutinin gene of samples sequenced from patients. This was not found in virus sequences from poultry samples collected on the patient’s property. This indicates that changes occur in patients after infection,” the CDC said.
“Although these low-frequency changes are rare in humans, But it has also been reported in previous cases of A(H5N1) infection in other countries and most frequently during periods of severe disease.”
From the discovery of genetic changes in viruses Public health officials recommend action. “Continuous genome surveillance” in humans and animals is being carried out to control outbreaks of avian influenza in dairy cattle and poultry. and take measures to prevent the spread of infection when in contact with infected animals. or environment
Bird flu has caused the death of cats and zoo animals as the virus spreads in the United States.
The CDC maintains that the risk to the general public remains low.
“These same mutations did not appear in virus genomes sampled from backyard birds that likely infected individuals,” said Samuel Scarpino, director of AI and life sciences and A health sciences professor at Northeastern University in Boston confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“This is because the mutation occurs in human patients. But not in backyard birds. This shows that the mutation occurred during the person’s infection.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and senior medical analyst for Fox News, told Fox News Digital sharing his thoughts on the significance of the findings.
“Each human infection represents a spin of the epidemic roulette wheel.”
“It is quite concerning that the H5N1 avian influenza virus found in the Louisiana patient has a mutation that makes it more easily able to enter the upper respiratory tract in this patient. But this mutation has been seen before,” he told Fox News Digital.
The good news, doctors noted, is that There have not been any reports of patients in Louisiana spreading the virus to other humans.
“We know the mutations to watch out for in terms of their potential to spread among humans” from previous research, Siegel said.
“It is important to monitor poultry and dairy cattle in the home,” he added.
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Scarpino agreed that while the mutation is “concerning,” it is “unlikely to represent an increased risk to the public.”
“A similar event — a mutation that occurs during infection that increases risk in humans — occurred in an individual infected with H5N1 from a wild bird in Canada. And it has happened many times during previous H5N1 outbreaks outside of the United States and Canada,” he told Fox News Digital.
“So far, it appears that individuals in Louisiana have not spread the virus to others.”
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However, doctors warn that The more likely it is that the virus can spread to people. Similar mutations will occur and cause This only increases the “chain of transmission” in humans.
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“Each human infection represents a spin of the epidemic roulette wheel,” Scarpino said.
“We need to take serious action to eradicate H5N1 infection. Agricultural population and better understand why so many wild birds are still infected.”
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