Recent hospitalizations in Wyoming and Ohio due to H5N1 bird flu have raised alarm, with one patient still undergoing treatment. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist, warns that H5N1's presence in hospitals coinciding with a severe flu season may lead to dangerous reassortment, risking a new pandemic-capable strain. The Wyoming patient, with pre-existing health conditions, was linked to a backyard flock, while the Ohio patient was involved in culling infected poultry. This marks the first human cases detected in these states amid 70 confirmed cases of H5N1 in the US.
Both patients experienced respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms, indicating the potential severity of H5N1, which raises concerns about its mildness assumptions.
This creates opportunities for reassortment, which could potentially produce a pandemic-capable H5N1, especially when hospitalized patients are treated with seasonal flu patients.
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