BIRD FLU WAS CREATED BY DUTCH RESEARCHERS TO KILL FERRETS in 2012; FOUR mutations from causing human outbreak or 1 crispr edit

Bird flu is just FOUR mutations ONE CRISPR EDIT away from causing human outbreak — as experts describe virus as 'pandemic threat that's going to keep knocking at our door'

Bird flu will eventually it cause a pandemic in humans, an expert warns

Scientists identified four key mutations it would need to spread widely in people

READ MORE: CDC is in a 'posture of readiness' for a bird flu outbreak in humans
By MANSUR SHAHEEN DEPUTY HEALTH EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM



The virus has been given ample opportunity to spread in recent years as it rampages across the world's bird and mammal population.

Each time it begins replicating in a new host it earns another chance to mutate and potentially gain one of these deadly traits.

Some mutations it could gain that cause it to pose a risk to humans includes the ability to survive in the air and optimizing itself to infect human cells.



Experts highlight four key traits bird flu can pick up through mutation that can lead to it causing a pandemic level event in humans. Two of the mutations would need to occur on the hemagglutinin, the outside parts of the virus that are responsible for binding it to human cells. With these mutations it can travel through the air and bypass the body's natural defenses. Other changes include matching itself to better connect to human viruses rather than bird, and to optimize itself to strike cell proteins



TELLING US THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IT

Dr Mathilde Richard, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, told the journal Science: 'This is the threat that's going to keep knocking at our door until it will indeed, I assume, cause a pandemic.

'Because there is no way back.'

Before the virus can cause any harm to humans, it will first need to reach them.

Currently, a person can be infected with bird flu after viral particles enter their body through the mouth, nose or eyes.

Usually, this happens when someone touches an infected surface and then wipes their face.

These instances are rare, though, with only around 1,000 cases ever having been detected in humans.





THIS BELOW IS THE MOST CRUCIAL PART


In a landmark 2012 study, Dutch researchers manufactured the H5N1 bird flu to spread airborne between ferrets.





This type of research falls under the controversial 'gain-of-function' label and has been restricted in most of the world.






Cambodian girl, 11, dies from H5N1 bird flu, becoming 2023's first victim

Bean Narong, 11, died after catching Type A HN5 in her Cambodia village in February.


But through their studies, the team identified changes to the virus's bindings that allow it to travel through the air and attach to human cells, it's RNA code and that allow it to infect more efficiently and let it escape natural barriers.



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Last Edited by Coastie Patriot on 04/14/2023 02:27 PM