Bird flu patient had mutations, sparking concern about spread among humans

The patient in Louisiana who was hospitalized with severe bird flu illness was found to have a mutated version of the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last week.

The fact that the virus mutated in the patient suggests that it can potentially spread from person to person.

The CDC analyzed samples of the H5N1 virus collected from the patient and compared its genomic sequences to those from infected dairy cows, wild birds, poultry and other animals, the agency said.

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“The analysis identified low-frequency mutations in the hemagglutinin gene in a sample sequenced from the patient that were not found in viral sequences from poultry samples collected on the patient’s property, suggesting that the changes occurred in the patient after infection,” the CDC said.

“Although these low-frequency changes are rare in humans, they have been reported in previous cases of A(H5N1) in other countries and most often during severe illness.”

Based on the discovery of these genetic changes in the virus, health officials recommend conducting “ongoing genomic surveillance” in humans and animals, taking steps to limit bird flu outbreaks among dairy cattle and poultry, and taking steps to prevent transmission when exposed to infected animals or environments.

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The CDC maintains that the risk to the public remains low.

“The same mutations were not present in viral genomes sampled from backyard birds that presumably infected the individual,” Samuel Scarpino, director of AI and life sciences and professor of health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, confirmed to Fox News Digital.

“Because the mutations were present in the human patient but not the backyard birds, this suggests that the mutations arose during the course of that person’s infection.”

Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital, shared his thoughts on the significance of this finding.

“Each human infection represents a spin of the epidemic roulette wheel.”

“It is somewhat concerning that the H5N1 bird flu virus found in the Louisiana patient showed a mutation that allowed it to more easily enter the upper respiratory tract of this patient, but this mutation has been seen before,” he told Fox News Digital .

The good news, the doctor noted, is that there have been no reports of the Louisiana patient transmitting the virus to other people.

“We know the mutations we need to be aware of in terms of the potential to spread among people” based on previous research, Siegel said.

“It is important that surveillance among domestic poultry and dairy cattle is extensive,” he added.

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Scarpino agreed that while the mutations are “concerning,” they “probably do not represent an increased risk to the public.”

“Similar events — mutations that occur during infection that increase risk in humans — occurred with the individual infected with H5N1 from wild birds in Canada and have occurred a number of times during previous H5N1 outbreaks outside the United States and Canada,” said he to Fox News Digital.

“To date, it does not appear that the person in Louisiana has transmitted the infection to other people.”

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However, the doctor warned that the more opportunities the virus has to infect humans, the more likely similar mutations will occur and trigger a “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 active steps to eliminate H5N1 infections in agricultural populations and better understand why so many wild birds remain infected.”