Medscape (March 24) – There is currently no immediate threat of a pandemic, according to James Lowe, DVM, MS, DABVP, professor of veterinary clinical medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Though the H5N1 virus can infect many species, including humans, how or whether it spreads varies greatly because the virus must bind to the sialic acid (SA) receptor, which differs across species. “These species differences explain why H5N1 is devastating in some animals while relatively benign in others,” Lowe said.
Species Differences Contribute to Risk of Transmission of H5N1 Influenza
