Bird Flu Research News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

Two HIV Vaccine Trials Show Proof of Concept for Pathway to Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies

May 16, 2025 — A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus. Traditional ...

Novel, Needle-Free, Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccines With Broad Protection Against Human and Avian Virus Subtypes

May 9, 2025 — A research team has achieved a significant breakthrough in developing broadly protective, live-attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV). These innovative LAIV platforms offer potential to develop ...

Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Smallpox Vaccine for Preventing Mpox

May 8, 2025 — The recent global monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, with a new and aggressive variant, has underscored the dire need for safe, broadly effective, and accessible vaccines. The LC16m8 vaccine, an attenuated ...

Engineering an Antibody Against Flu With Sticky Staying Power

May 8, 2025 — Scientists have engineered a monoclonal antibody that can protect mice from a lethal dose of influenza A, a new study shows. The new molecule combines the specificity of a mature flu fighter with the broad binding capacity of a more general immune ...

Experimental Bird Flu Vaccine Excels in Animal Models

Apr. 23, 2025 — A vaccine under development has demonstrated complete protection in mice against a deadly variant of the virus that causes bird flu. The work focuses on the H5N1 variant known as 2.3.4.4b, which has caused widespread outbreaks in wild birds and ...

Nasal Spray H5N1 Avian Influenza Vaccine Developed

Apr. 8, 2025 — Scientists have pioneered an influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform and developed a nasal spray H5N1 avian influenza vaccine. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, this platform enabled the rapid development of a nasal spray vaccine ...

Viral 'Backbone' Underlies Variation in Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers have shown that differences in the entire rotavirus genome -- not just its two surface proteins -- affect how well vaccines work, helping to explain why some strains are more likely to infect vaccinated ...

An Antiviral Chewing Gum to Reduce Influenza and Herpes Simplex Virus Transmission

Apr. 4, 2025 — Low vaccination rates for influenza viruses and the lack of an HSV vaccine underscore the need for a new approach to reduce viral transmission. Researchers have now used a clinical-grade antiviral ...

Study Strengthens Link Between Shingles Vaccine and Lower Dementia Risk

Apr. 2, 2025 — A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% -- more than any other known ...

Current Antivirals Likely Less Effective Against Severe Infection Caused by Bird Flu Virus in Cows' Milk

Mar. 21, 2025 — Existing antivirals may be less effective against this H5N1 bird flu strain, and prevention measures, such as avoiding raw milk consumption and reducing exposure in dairy workers, may be the most ...

Older Adults Might Be More Resistant to Bird Flu Infections Than Children

Mar. 15, 2025 — Older adults who were exposed to seasonal flu viruses that circulated prior to 1968 are more likely to have some protection against H5N1, and children would benefit more from H5N1 ...

TB Vaccine Candidate Provides 'Elite' Protection

Mar. 10, 2025 — A live-attenuated tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate in development elicits a much more balanced and effective immune response compared to the existing vaccine used across much of the world, according to preclinical ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56pm EDT

Immunity Against Seasonal H1N1 Flu Reduces Bird Flu Severity in Ferrets, Study Suggests

Feb. 27, 2025 — Pre-existing immunity against seasonal H1N1 flu might help explain why most reported human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. have not resulted in ...

Feed Additives Can Reduce Campylobacter in Free-Range Broilers

Feb. 19, 2025 — New research has yielded promising results in the fight against campylobacter in free-range chicken flocks. Trials demonstrate that adding biochar to chicken feed can reduce campylobacter in chickens ...

Antibody Treatment Prevents Severe Bird Flu in Monkeys

Jan. 30, 2025 — The antibody targets a stable part of the bird flu virus, ensuring that the immune protection can resist new variants and offer long-term protection against the globally spreading airborne ...

Bird Flu Is Mutating, but Antivirals Still Work

Jan. 15, 2025 — Researchers have identified nine mutations in a bird flu strain from a person in Texas. Bad news: this strain is more capable of causing disease and replicates better in the brain. Good news: ...

Officials Assess Threat of H5N1 Avian Flu

Jan. 2, 2025 — Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A virus (HPAI H5N1) remains a low risk to the general public, and public health experts in the United States believe that available treatments and vaccines, as ...

Scientists Design Workaround That Improves Response to Flu Vaccine

Dec. 19, 2024 — Stitching together four molecules found in the standard flu vaccine ensures an immune response to all of them, scientists have ...

Possible Colon Cancer Vaccine Target Uncovered in Bacteria

Dec. 9, 2024 — By comparing cancer incidence rates with genomic surveillance data, researchers suggest that higher rates of certain cancers in the UK and other countries may be linked to two bacterial strains. ...

Single Mutation in H5N1 Influenza Surface Protein Could Enable Easier Human Infection

Dec. 7, 2024 — A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating ...

Scientists Identify Mutation That Could Facilitate H5N1 'Bird Flu' Virus Infection and Potential Transmission in Humans

Dec. 5, 2024 — Avian influenza viruses typically require several mutations to adapt and spread among humans, but what happens when just one change can increase the ...

Eradivir's EV25 Therapeutic Reduces Advanced-Stage Influenza Viral Loads Faster, More Thoroughly in Preclinical Studies Than Current Therapies

Nov. 19, 2024 — A research article shows that Eradivir's patent-pending antiviral therapeutic called EV25 reduces lung viral loads of advanced-stage influenza in ...

Potential Single-Dose Smallpox and Mpox Vaccine Moves Forward

Nov. 13, 2024 — An FDA-approved vaccine for smallpox and mpox is effective but causes side effects. The other requires multiple doses. An experimental single-dose vaccine uses the horsepox virus to harness the ...

Key Influenza-Severity Risk Factor Found Hiding in Plain Sight on Our Antibodies

Nov. 13, 2024 — Why do some people develop severe flu symptoms? A study points the finger at an unsung portion of the antibodies our immune systems generate to fend off invading ...

Elephant Seal Colony Declines One Year After Avian Flu Outbreak

Nov. 11, 2024 — A year after an outbreak of H5N1 killed thousands of elephant seals in Argentina, only about a third of the seals normally expected here returned, scientists ...

Washington Coast Avian Flu Outbreak Devastated Caspian Terns, Jumped to Seals

Nov. 6, 2024 — An epidemiological study found that 56 percent of a large breeding colony of Caspian terns died from a 2023 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at Rat Island in Washington state. ...

H5N1 Virus Isolated from Infected Dairy Worker Is 100% Lethal in Ferrets, but Does Not Appear to Be Circulating in Nature Anymore

Oct. 28, 2024 — A strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus found in a Texas dairy worker who was infected this spring was able to spread among ferrets through the air, although inefficiently, and killed 100% of infected ...

'Food Theft' Among Seabirds Could Be Transmission Point for Deadly Avian Flu

Sep. 16, 2024 — If seabirds can catch avian flu by stealing food from infectious birds, it gives scientists a clue where to monitor for outbreaks among these vulnerable ...

Researchers Develop Promising Lassa Fever Vaccine

Sep. 12, 2024 — A promising Lassa fever vaccine shows potential to prevent severe disease and death in ...

Avian Flu Found in Wastewater of 10 Texas Cities Through Virome Sequencing

Sep. 11, 2024 — Avian influenza A(H5N1) virus, which spread to cattle and infected 14 people this year, was detected using virome sequencing in the wastewater of 10 Texas ...

Investigational Mpox mRNA Vaccine Reduces Disease Severity in Primates Compared to Available Vaccines

Sep. 4, 2024 — The most frequently used mpox vaccine provides partial immunity to the disease but isn't always able to prevent severe symptoms or disease transmission. A new vaccine candidate from Moderna, ...

H5 Influenza Vaccines: What Needs to Be Done to Reduce the Risk of a Pandemic

Sep. 4, 2024 — As the global threat of H5N1 influenza looms with outbreaks across species and continents including the U.S., three international vaccine and public health experts say it is time to fully resource ...

Universal Flu Vaccine Candidate Protects Against Infection in Mice

Aug. 22, 2024 — A new flu vaccine candidate incorporates proteins from 8 strains of ...

New Insights on How Bird Flu Crosses the Species Barrier

Aug. 19, 2024 — The avian influenza virus needs to mutate to cross the species barrier and to infect and replicate within mammalian cells. Scientists have now deciphered the structure of the avian influenza ...

Candidate Malaria Vaccine Provides Lasting Protection in NIH-Sponsored Trials

Aug. 14, 2024 — Recent trials of an experimental malaria vaccine in healthy Malian adults found that all three tested regimens were safe. One of the trials enrolled 300 healthy women ages 18 to 38 years who ...

Study Reveals Oleoyl-ACP-Hydrolase Underpins Lethal Respiratory Viral Disease

Aug. 12, 2024 — Respiratory infections can be severe, even deadly, in some individuals, but not in others. Scientists have gained new understanding of why this is the case by uncovering an early molecular driver ...

New Two-Step Flu Vaccine Strategy Shows Promise in Pig Model

Aug. 9, 2024 — A new, two-step flu vaccination strategy that pairs intramuscular injection of a viral vectored flu vaccine with nasal spray administration of a novel attenuated live flu virus appears to be safe and ...

Nasal COVID-19 Vaccine Halts Transmission, Animal Study Finds

July 31, 2024 — A nasal COVID-19 vaccine blocks transmission of the virus, according to an animal study. The findings suggest that vaccines delivered directly to the nose or mouth could play a critical role in ...

How Evolution Tamed a Deadly Virus and Why We Should Still Worry

July 25, 2024 — Over the last century, a once-deadly mosquito-borne virus has evolved so that it no longer sickens humans. New research shows that changes in the virus's ability to target human cells paralleled ...

New Study Confirms Mammal-to-Mammal Avian Flu Spread

July 24, 2024 — A new study provides evidence that a spillover of avian influenza from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states has now led to mammal-to-mammal transmission -- between cows and from cows to ...

Raw Milk Is Risky, but Airborne Transmission of H5N1 from Cow's Milk Is Inefficient in Mammals

July 8, 2024 — While H5N1 avian influenza virus taken from infected cow's milk makes mice and ferrets sick when dripped into their noses, airborne transmission of the virus between ferrets -- a common model ...

Pasteurization Inactivates Highly Infectious Avian Flu in Milk, Study Suggests

July 3, 2024 — Researchers found no infectious virus in the sampled pasteurized milk products tested for ...