Few People Have Existing Immunity to H5N1 Bird Flu: CDC Study

Many Americans do not have existing immunity to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new study indicates. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected blood from 489 people and tested their blood for antibodies against clade 2.3.4.4b A H5N1, a strain of the avian influenza that is currently circulating in the United States. “This study found no pre-existing neutralizing antibodies to 2.3.4.4b. A(H5N1) and that fewer than 1% of people had low binding antibodies,” a CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. The data mean “that there is little to no pre-existing immunity to this virus and most of the population would be susceptible to infection from this virus if it were to start infecting people easily and spreading from person-to-person,” the CDC said....