Wanjiru Waweru, Jadetimes Staff
W. Waweru is a Jadetimes News Reporter Covering Health News
A genetic analysis suggested the bird flu virus mutated inside the Lousiana Patient who contracted the nation’s headline severe case of the serious illness, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week.
Scientists know that the mutations might allow the virus to improve binding to receptors in the upper airways of humans — something they were highly concerned about, however, not the consequences for an alarm.
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota reviewed this binding interaction to a lock and key. To access a cell, the virus has to seek a key to change the lock, this search describes how the virus may be adjusting to connect the key that progress.
"Is this an indication that we may be closer to seeing a readily transmitted virus between people? No," said Osterholm. "Right now, this is a key that sits in the lock, but it doesn't open the door."
This infectious disease has been very effective in becoming a mild illness in people in the United States, alone. Almost all of the people worked in dairy or poultry farms.
The Lousiana Patients were hospitalized in a critical condition with severe respiratory symptoms from bird flu arriving in contact with sick and deceased birds in a backyard flock. The person, however, has not been identified who is over 65 years of age and suffered from a medical condition, officials reported early this month.
According to Spectrum News, “The CDC stressed there has been no known transmission of the virus from the Louisiana patient to anyone else. The agency said its findings about the mutations were ‘concerning,’ but the risk to the general public from the outbreak ’has not changed and remains low.’”
Osterholm stated that scientists need to continuously review and pay very close attention to the mutations.
“There will be additional influenza pandemics and they could be much worse than we saw with COVID," said Osterholm. "We know that the pandemic clock is ticking. We just don't know what time it is."
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