Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. At least 58 people in the U.S. have been infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus this year, according to federal statistics. All but ...

Avian influenza viruses typically require several mutations to adapt and spread among humans, but what happens when just one change can increase the risk of becoming a pandemic virus? A recent study ...

Viruses closely related to the deadly MERS coronavirus are lurking in bats and one group, known as HKU5, may be just one mutation away from making the jump to humans. A new study reveals how these ...

Across the world, only a few dozen people appear to carry a genetic glitch that lets them brush off viruses that flatten ...

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

The avian flu virus isolated from a hospitalized teenager in Vancouver has mutations in key areas that could help the virus spread more easily in humans, scientists say. There is no indication that ...

Huge die-offs of elephant seals occurred after the virus gained nearly 20 troublesome new mutations, scientists found. By Apoorva Mandavilli Elephant seals in South America died in massive numbers ...

This month’s story comes from the Bloom lab using their signature deep mutational scanning technique to identify mutations in the surface protein of Lassa virus -called glycoprotein- that escape ...

Viruses are masters at disguise. When they are pushed too far by our immune system, they send new virus variants into play that are no longer recognized by immune cells. They escape our immune system ...

Receptor binding site of the A/Texas/37/2024 hemagglutinin Leu226 mutant (yellow) in complex with the human receptor analog LSTc (cyan). LA JOLLA, CA—Avian influenza viruses typically require several ...