Cows have human flu receptors, study shows, raising the stakes on the bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle | CNN
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/09/health/bird-flu-cows-human-receptors
I know in my H5N1 thread I have skewed towards more dense science and it's not exactly accessible to everyone. I've had a hard time finding time to summarize everything.
If I could synthesize this preprint, plus other papers I read into a short(er) talking point, it would be this:
"Human IAVs preferentially bind SA-α2,6 (human receptor)"
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.03.592326v1.full.pdf (The paper cited in the CNN article)
"Ferrets are widely used as animal models for the study of influenza A infection because they have a similar distribution of SA α2,3-Gal and SA α2,6-Gal receptors in the respiratory tract as humans."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915228/
"Influenza A viruses are transmitted via the air from the nasal respiratory epithelium of ferrets"
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14626-0
"Airborne Transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Between Ferrets"
