Rapid Fire
H5N1 Reassortant Virus
- 12 Nov 2024
- 1 min read
Recently, human cases of novel reassortant H5N1 Bird flu virus were reported in Cambodia.
- The novel reassortant virus results from the mixing of clade 2.3.2.1c, which had been circulating in Southeast Asia, with the global 2.3.4.4b clade.
- H5N1 is one of several influenza viruses that causes a highly infectious respiratory disease in birds called avian influenza (or "bird flu").
- H5N1 bird flu was first identified in geese in China in 1996.
- It can infect people who work with infected animals or their byproducts (e.g., raw milk), such as dairy workers.
- The virus can spread from infected mammals to humans but does not transmit from person to person.
- The influenza virus is a single-stranded RNA virus with a lipid-containing envelope.
- Seasonal influenza vaccines do not protect against human infection with animal influenza A viruses, including H5N1 viruses.
Read More: H5N1 Bird Flu
