Researchers concerned:

Bird flu has already adapted to mammals

Now is the time to stop the virus from spreading to humans, scientists warn.

(Bild: panyawat - stock.adobe.com)

Scientists in the USA have been working at full speed for weeks now, following the increased spread of bird flu in dairy cows. Now leading researchers are expressing concern. The virus has already adapted to mammals. Experts are now urgently calling for a rethink.

This is a "bad signal", says the well-known virologist Eric Feigl-Ding via the short message service X (formerly Twitter). He is referring to the latest findings of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has now confirmed three more cases of dead cats as a result of infection with the H5N1 virus.

According to Sonja Olsen, deputy director of the CDC's influenza division, the animals had suffered from neurological symptoms - "with rapid deterioration to death", she told BNO News.

Dogs could become explosive carriers
Almost all of the recently deceased cats were at home on infected dairy farms. Feigl-Ding is concerned that the cases are an indication that the virus has already adapted to mammals. The suspicion is that the animals could have been infected by drinking raw milk.

In addition to cats, certain dog breeds (such as beagles) are now also at risk, Feigl-Ding continues: "And such dogs can facilitate their adaptation to humans (as more dogs than dairy cows live together with humans)".

Top virologist no longer consumes milk
For humans, a recent CDC recommendation caused a stir in this context: According to this, people should no longer drink raw milk, but only pasteurized milk in order to avoid a possible spread to humans. The world's leading virologist Rick Bright even stopped drinking milk altogether until there is definitive proof that pasteurized milk is also safe.

A team led by pathobiologist Louise Moncla from the University of Pennsylvania has now succeeded in breaking down the genetic information of the cattle affected by the disease - and thus giving the all-clear as far as a human infection with H5N1 is concerned. The infected person in Texas was not infected by cattle, but rather by birds - so it was not yet a corresponding mutation that could become dangerous via milk, for example.

"I really fear that we will soon experience a pandemic"
 Despite the positive news, top experts are still on the alert: "The current strain of #H5N1 is obviously a virus that does not easily jump to humans," explains German virologist Isabella Eckerle from the University of Geneva. "But we are doing everything we can to change it: since last year it has been circulating in mink fur farms, now it is circulating in US cows. I really fear that we will soon see a pandemic spreading."

The danger lies not so much in transmission via milk, but through further adaptation to mammals, which could lead to bird flu spreading to humans. This should not be ruled out and much more testing of people and cows in the affected areas is needed to stop any spread: "The world we currently live in is not ready for another epidemic or pandemic," says Eckerle.