India, Jan. 30 -- Spain's bird flu outbreak in minks hints at a mutating virus

Bird flu, a virus not known to spread easily among mammals, led to the culling of 50,000 minks in Spain last October. The findings published January 19, 2023 indicated at least one mutation in the virus' genome, which may make mammal-to-mammal infection easier. Typically, mammals catch the avian influenza directly from infected birds.

The Spanish case study indicates the virus H5N1 is evolving and may be gaining pandemic potential as its mutation is the same mutation that was recorded in the gene of the 2009 pandemic swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus, according to the paper in the journal Eurosurveillance.

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