News

H5N1 virus from 2022 mink outbreak capable of inefficient airborne transmission. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 2, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2024 / 05 / 240515164238.htm.
Laboratory testing revealed that the mink were infected with H5N1, and all the animals were subsequently culled. Precisely how the virus got into the mink remains unknown.
H5N1 is causing outbreaks among mammals at a scale previously unseen, ... Bird flu researchers turn to Finland’s mink farms, tracking a virus with pandemic potential. By Andrew Joseph Aug. 11, 2023.
Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza was detected in dairy cattle for the first time in the United States in March, with nine states reporting outbreaks by May. While the method of transmission ...
Adapted to birds, H5N1 has been found in various mammals, ... As bird flu spreads to minks, sea lions and other mammals, scientists are on alert for dangerous mutations.
Because H5N1 is a virus specifically evolved to attack birds, it isn’t as good at infecting the cells of mammals — yet. But if you can count on one thing for viruses to do, it’s mutate .
Studies have demonstrated mink infection with IAV subtypes and viral transmission via aerosols. Mink infection with avian H5N1, H9N2, H5N6, and human or swine H1N1 and H3N2 viruses has been reported.
A mink outbreak in Spain last year showed that H5N1 isn’t as deadly to minks as it is to poultry — where it can kill 80 to 90 percent of the infected animals — so an outbreak could go under ...
In a worst case scenario, H5N1 or another virus could mutate in a mink and infect a human — and this is why many experts believe fur-producing facilities such as mink farms should be abolished.
Researchers reveal how H5N1 viruses rapidly adapted to mammals through genetic reassortment and specific mutations, raising concerns over potential pandemic risks. Evidence from mink, marine ...