A Plague That Could Kill a Billion People Has Been Found to Spread “Efficiently” Among Ferrets
If you believed that the recent years have been challenging, brace yourself for the havoc that can be caused by a highly lethal virus spreading uncontrollably worldwide. Researchers have been cautioning about the potential of the H5N1 bird flu strain to rapidly cause widespread fatalities for years. Fortunately, the H5N1 strain is not naturally prone to transmitting among mammals. However, more than ten years ago, scientists in the United States and the Netherlands were engaged in "gain of function" investigations on the H5N1 strain with the aim of creating a mutant version capable of spreading effortlessly among mammals.
The United States is presently grappling with the most severe outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza to date. Furthermore, a new study indicates that the virus could become endemic in the country, posing a long-term risk. The ongoing outbreak is causing massive devastation, with numbers of affected poultry that the country has never encountered before. "It's wiping out everything in numbers we've never seen before," stated Jennifer Mullinax, an assistant professor of environmental science and technology at the University of Maryland, during an interview with Sky News.
Despite the massive death toll of millions of chickens, turkeys, and other birds due to the current bird flu outbreak, the general population has not been too anxious. However, in recent months, H5N1 has exhibited the ability to kill mammals such as foxes, minks, raccoons, and bears, raising concerns among researchers.
Moreover, a recent study conducted in Canada has confirmed that a strain of H5N1 that is presently circulating has the potential to spread "efficiently" among ferrets, which are often used to test how influenza viruses might behave in humans. The finding has caused alarm since it suggests that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that can spread rapidly among humans, leading to a severe pandemic.
Post by Michael
Source End Of The American
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