The patient was likely infected after having contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this month.
Meg TirrellThe death of an Oregon house cat and a pet food recall are raising questions about the ongoing outbreak of bird flu and how people can protect their pets.
The mutations, similar to ones observed in a hospitalized patient in British Columbia, Canada, may make it easier for the virus to bind to cell receptors in humans' upper respiratory tracts, the agency said in its analysis. The analysis found no changes associated with markers that might mean antiviral drugs wouldn't work as well against the virus, the CDC added, and noted the samples are closely related to strains that could be used to make vaccines, if needed.
"There has been an explosion of human cases," she said. "We don't know what combination of mutations would lead to a pandemic H5N1 virus... but the more humans are infected, the more chances a pandemic virus will emerge."
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