Mutation in H5N1 Bird Flu Virus May Boost Risk of Human-to-Human Transmission

Inside Precision Medicine December 6, 2024
Chris Anderson

A single mutation in the H5N1 “bird flu” virus could enhance its ability to attach to human cells, raising concerns about the potential for human-to-human transmission, according to scientists at Scripps Research. The discovery, published Thursday in Science, highlights the importance of monitoring evolutionary changes in the bird flu virus to assess the risk of a pandemic.

Past cases in which avian viruses have adapted to allow infected people to transmit to other people have typically needed at least three different mutations. But for the H5N1 2.3.4.4b strain—which was isolated from the first human infection with a bovine H5N1 virus in the U.S.—the investigators found that a single mutation in an amino acid in the hemagglutinin could switch specificity to...

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