The H5N1 strain that started sweeping through dairy farms in March has infected 58 people working with infected cattle and poultry, the CDC said, though only with mild symptoms and no known human-to-human transmission. “All that can change if the virus mutates in the wrong way,” The Washington Post said. The Scripps team found that one genetic tweak could enable the hemagglutinin proteins, or spikes, on the virus to latch onto and penetrate human respiratory cells, allowing viral spread among people.
