Humans and pigs could both serve as mixing vessels for a bird flu–seasonal flu hybrid, posing a risk of wider spread
People who get infected with H5N1 bird flu, such as dairy farm workers, could be coinfected with seasonal flu, setting the stage for dangerous viral mixing known as reassortment.As the H5N1 avian influenza virus continues its rampage through U.S. dairy cow herds, it has also infected human farm workers. A different strain has also infected workers on poultry farms, most recentlyfor the first time at a farm in Oregon.
Could such reassortment occur if a person were infected with both the H5N1 bird flu virus and seasonal influenza at the same time, leading to an H5N1 version that would be more transmissible in people? That’s certainly possible, experts say. But reassortment alone cannot create a virus capable of launching a human pandemic, says, an infectious disease researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The virus would also need to accrue certain specific mutations.
“This does seem to be a pretty limited episode on a backyard farm, so I think in itself, it doesn't pose any particular danger, assuming there wasn’t any movement of animals to other farms,” Webby says. But if this represents an actual infection of pigs and not just a positive nasal swab, he says, “it does suggest that they are naturally susceptible to the virus.”
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