Why a leading bird flu expert isn’t convinced that the risk H5N1 poses to people has declined

STAT April 5, 2024
Helen Branswell

News that H5N1 avian influenza has breached another mammalian species — this time dairy cows — has taken the flu science community aback. Though cows previously had been seen to be susceptible to human flu viruses, and could be experimentally infected with H5 in a lab, the absence of cow involvement until now in H5’s nearly 30-year history lulled scientists into thinking the species was outside the virus’s remit.

Further elevating the concern this discovery has triggered is the fact that a dairy farm worker in Texas was infected with H5N1, though the unnamed individual’s only symptom was conjunctivitis.

To put these developments in perspective, STAT turned to Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, a leading expert on H5N1, for his assessment...

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