Bird flu that infected Texas farm worker HAS mutated to spread more easily, CDC ... trends now

The strain of bird flu that infected a person in Texas has mutated to spread more easily, officials say — amid growing alarm the disease could spread to more people.

The CDC said tests on the H5N1 sample showed it had a mutation that was 'known to be associated with viral adaptation to mammalian hosts' - but insisted the mutations were minor and the overall risk to the public was low.

This mutation was not detected in cattle or in wild birds, with officials saying it 'may have been acquired in the patient during the development of the [eye infection]'. 

Meanwhile, three pet cats have died from bird flu after catching the disease on dairy farms in Texas, according to reports — as fears are raised that infected animals living near humans could spread the disease to people.

And the largest egg producer in the US has revealed bird flu has been detected in its flock, with nearly 2million chickens now set to be culled. There is growing concern that the outbreak on farms could cause supply chain issues or drive up the price of eggs and dairy products.

It comes amid concerns that H5N1 — which has already triggered a pandemic in the animal world — could soon do the same in humans. The EU's Food Safety Agency (EFSA) warned Wednesday that a large-scale bird flu pandemic could be triggered if the virus becomes transmissible between people.

Infectious disease experts warn every infection in mammals or humans raises the risk of the virus gaining new mutations enabling it to infect people.

Dr Francois Balloux, an epidemiologist in the UK, warned on X that the situation 'might change for the worse, eventually'.

But he added: 'People not professionally involved in pandemic prevention/mitigation being worried/feeling miserable now won't make any material difference to what may hit us, except that their life would suck, far more than it should.'

Dr Peter Hotez, a virologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, told DailyMail.com that the cases were 'a reminder that avian influenza is circulating and continuously jumping to new mammalian hosts.

'So far, the subsequent jumps to humans are still uncommon and not producing severe illness,' he added, 'but I believe this could change eventually'.

The mutation detected on the virus infecting a dairy farm worker in Texas has been recorded previously, the CDC said — and did not spark a major outbreak at that time.

The change, on the PB2 gene linked to how the virus makes copies of itself, has not been recorded on wild poultry on in infections in cows.