Bird flu could become a human pandemic. How are countries preparing?

Nature July 12, 2024
Smriti Mallapaty

Wealthy nations are purchasing vaccines against H5N1 influenza and boosting surveillance, but there are concerns that low-income countries will be left behind.

As cases of avian influenza continue to rise in cattle in the United States, countries are preparing for the possibility that the virus could start spreading in people. Many nations are ramping up surveillance, as well as purchasing vaccines or developing new ones.

“This virus in its current state does not look like it has the characteristics of causing a pandemic. But with influenza viruses, that equation could entirely change with a single mutation,” says Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has so far been detected in...

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