Bird flu virus adapts to sea mammals, poses risk to humans

nytimes.com

A study found that the bird flu virus acquired mutations allowing it to spread among elephant seals, causing massive die-offs in South America. This marks the first evidence of such transmission among mammals. The virus, H5N1, poses a risk of large-scale infections in other mammals, including humans. In the US, an ongoing outbreak in dairy cows has been detected in nine states since March, possibly spreading through contaminated milk.


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