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  • NEWS EXPLAINER

Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising

H5N1 is adapting to new mammalian hosts, raising the possibility of the virus spreading between humans.
By
  1. Max Kozlov
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Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died.

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Nature 638, 16-17 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00245-6

References

  1. Rosenke, K. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08609-8 (2025).

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  2. Dholakia, V. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.06.631435 (2025).

  3. Lin, T.-H. et al. Science 386, 1128–1134 (2024).

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