Opinion: Climate change is helping the H5N1 bird flu virus spread and evolve

The spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 among animals is unprecedented having been found on all continents — except Oceania — with the United Nations calling it “a global zoonotic animal pandemic.”

H5N1 The ecology and genetics of H5N1 viruses have evolved significantly since first being detected in China in 1997. On land, the H5N1 virus has been detected in dairy cattle, and in 2024, a Texas agricultural worker was infected with H5N1. These cases suggest that H5N1 is adapting to infect mammalian hosts.

Climate change and H5N1 There is increasing evidence that climate change is accelerating the global spread and emergence of new H5N1 variants with evidence that wider seasonal variation is enabling the emergence of novel H5N1 variants.

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