Doctors should use infection control measures if a hospitalized patient has suspected, probable, or confirmed H5N1, putting the patient in an airborne infection isolation room with negative pressure, and using standard, contact, and airborne precautions with eye protection such as goggles or a face shield.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging hospitals to accelerate advanced testing of people they suspect may have bird flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released an advisory recommending clinicians expedite subtyping of type A influenza samples from hospitalized patients, particularly individuals in an intensive care unit.

Researchers at Texas Biomed have identified nine mutations in a strain of bird flu found in a person in Texas. Bad news: This strain shows an increased ability to cause disease and is more effective at replicating in the brain.

Due to ongoing sporadic H5N1 avian flu infections and brisk levels of seasonal flu activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today urged healthcare providers to subtype all influenza A specimens in hospitalized patients, especially those in the intensive care unit (ICU), as soon as possible.

The CDC announced on Thursday its recommendation to test hospitalized influenza A patients more quickly and thoroughly to distinguish between seasonal flu and bird flu.

In early December 2024, a group of researchers published an article in the journal Science, entitled "A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptors".

Since early 2024, the U.S. has logged 66 human cases of H5N1. Scientists are keeping a watchful eye on the virus’s spread as we enter a new year.

Seasonal influenza vaccines triggered protective immune responses against the H5N1 avian influenza virus primarily in younger people, indicating its potential use as a first line of defense during an eventful pandemic.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, bird flu is a disease caused by the influenza A virus. At the same time, recent CDC data shows that seasonal influenza A is rising across the U.

The findings come at a time when outbreaks of bird flu -- a different subtype of the same ... of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating

CDC officials say they extended the guidance now because they are seeing more H5N1 patients whose illness they cannot track back to an infected bird or cow.