--- title: What to Know About the H5N9 Bird Flu description: The latest variant was found on a farm in California. Here's what to know about H5N9 avian influenza. canonical: https://time.com/7212763/what-is-h5n9-bird-flu/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-02-04T21:04:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:25.969Z article:section: Health og:title: What to Know About the H5N9 Bird Flu og:description: The latest variant was found on a farm in California. og:url: https://time.com/7212763/what-is-h5n9-bird-flu/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32afc5ff7ac31a33/6998b31283ec37567dc786a4/GettyImages-590068706.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2287 og:image:height: 1286 og:image:alt: GettyImages-590068706.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About the H5N9 Bird Flu twitter:description: The latest variant was found on a farm in California. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32afc5ff7ac31a33/6998b31283ec37567dc786a4/GettyImages-590068706.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About the H5N9 Bird Flu > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4b16cdc0-3de4-4e02-abe8-01b521812550&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bird Flu: What's At Risk For You [Watch (HLS stream): Bird Flu: What's At Risk For You](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/h7ByYR2R.m3u8) (4:43)  _Published 2025-01-16. You’ve probably been hearing a lot about bird flu in the news lately. So, what is it? Do you need to worry, and can you protect yourself? TIME Senior Correspondent Alice Park explains this latest outbreak of bird flu - also called H5N1 Avian Influenza - after officials reported the first death from virus in the U.S._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 4, 2025 9:04 PM UTC  Group of farm white duck facing same way Group of farm white duck facing same way Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 4, 2025 9:04 PM UTC In late January, scientists at the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) [reported](https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/6201) the first cases of H5N9 avian influenza in the U.S., on a duck farm in California. The latest strain isn’t a surprise, say public-health experts, since influenza takes different forms in different species and is constantly mutating. But the appearance of H5N9 is still concerning, especially in light of the ongoing outbreaks in chickens and cows of H5N1. Here's what to know. ## Why bird flu is so rampant right now “We’ve never seen a global spread of avian influenza virus like this,” says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “We’ve seen an explosion in the number of outbreaks in poultry and duck operations over the course of recent weeks. This reflects the fact that there is so much H5N1 in migrating waterfowl." There are about 40 million migratory aquatic waterfowl in North America, Osterholm says—which means there are plenty of potential bird-flu hosts, whose poop spreads disease. **Read More**: [_Scientists Are Starting to Track Bird Flu in Farm Wastewater_](https://time.com/7212477/wastewater-testing-farms-bird-flu/) "What we are seeing more and more are outbreaks in poultry operations because this virus is common in the environment and it’s blowing around," he says. "That’s different from anything we’ve seen before.” ## How H5N9 is different from H5N1 H5N9 is “not commonly seen in poultry in general,” says Eman Anis, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. (Anis is part of a lab that conducts national testing of poultry samples for avian influenza.) The virus is the result of a combination of H5N1, H7N9, and H9N2, according to [researchers](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4524050/) in China who studied samples isolated from bird markets in 2015\. At the time, the scientists said it wasn't clear how adept the virus was at infecting people—which remains the case today—but warned it was "imperative to assess the risk of emergence of this novel reassortant virus with potential transmissibility to public health." ## Why scientists are worried about H5N9 When H5N9 was recently detected in ducks, H5N1 was detected along with it. That's concerning, since viruses are able to combine and reassemble their genetic material. With so much H5N1 circulating, the danger of that strain coming into contact with other avian viruses—like H5N9—increases the chances that new, mutant strains can emerge. The fear is that one of those reassortments could result in a strain that easily infects and spreads among people. **Read More**: [_Trump’s Freeze on Foreign Aid Will Make Diseases Surge_](https://time.com/7212435/gavin-yamey-essay-trump-foreign-aid-disease/) By allowing bird flu to spread among animals mostly unchecked, “We are increasing the risk of something really terrible happening,” says Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “When you take risks, sometimes you get lucky. I always say you can close your eyes and cross a busy street, and you might not get hit by a car. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea." ## Concern for the future "What absolutely needs to be happening right now is we need a global coordinated strategy," Jha says. "Migratory waterfowl do not observe national boundaries, and any surveillance for \[avian influenza\] has to be done in a multi-national way.” President Trump’s [decision to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization](https://time.com/7208937/us-world-health-organization-trump-withdrawal/) (WHO), and his instructions for federal employees [not to work with anyone from the global health agency](https://apnews.com/article/cdc-who-trump-548cf18b1c409c7d22e17311ccdfe1f6), will make such a coordinated effort nearly impossible, Jha says—and that it will heighten the chances that viruses, including bird flu, cause larger outbreaks. ## Transcript You've probably been hearing a lot about bird flu in the news lately. New cases of the bird flu are raising alarms among health officials America's first severe human case of h5n1 bird flu. So what is it? Do you need to worry and can you protect yourself? Bird flu is also called h5n1 Avian Influenza. This recent outbreak began in 2024, and what has experts concerned is that it's not only infected millions of birds, but the virus has also spread to dairy cattle and other mammals, including goats, foxes, and house cats. And increasingly, it's been diagnosed in humans. A US man over age 65 with other health conditions became the first to die with h5n1 infection in early 2025. Breaking tonight the nation's first human death from the bird flu just reported. Down from Louisiana here. The Department of Health There. Listen to this. The first person has died from bird flu. Genetic analysis of the virus from that man suggests that h5n1 mutated in his body after he became infected. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said these mutations are concerning, but not a cause for alarm. Yet, symptoms of h5n1 infection can resemble those of more common illnesses. Many of the people in the US who have caught bird flu are farm workers who have come into direct contact with infected cattle or poultry. They have developed relatively mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis like eye issues, eye redness, and discharge from the eyes. Dairy workers who milk infected cows are especially at risk, since the virus can enter their eyes from milk that sprays into their face. Bird flu can also cause respiratory and classic flu like symptoms, including cough, runny nose, fever, sore throat, body aches, headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and even pneumonia, the CDC says. As bird flu continues to spread, work on a vaccine is underway to protect the public in the event of a pandemic. Several companies, including Maderna, Pfizer, and Glaxo Smith Kline, which is working with Kvak are developing an MRNA vaccine, using the same technology that was used in the COVID 19 shots. In July, the US government awarded Maderna $176 million to develop its updated MRNA h5n vaccine. All of these MRNA vaccine candidates are in early stages of testing in people for safety and efficacy. In 2024, scientists led by a team at the CDC reported that an MRNA based h5n1 vaccine helped ferrets generate strong antibody responses against the virus. Vaccinated animals survived a lethal dose of the virus while unvaccinated ferrets died from their infection. While creating an MRNA vaccine can be done quickly, testing the shot in clinical trials will take longer. So in the meantime, several existing vaccines, which don't use MRNA technology, but do target previous strains of h5n1 exist in the national stockpile. Health experts expect they would still provide some protection against severe disease. Because the virus is spreading among poultry and dairy cattle, the outbreaks are leading to egg rationing and shortages and have led to higher prices. While milk prices are not expected to go up, the US FDA now tests for the virus in commercial milk and other dairy products on a regular basis. The agency also advises staying away from raw milk, which is not pasteurized, a process that can kill the virus. Some experts believe dairy workers and others who have close contact with animals likely to be infected, such as poultry and cattle, should be vaccinated to protect them from infection. The CDC says that the risk of bird flu is still low for the general public. And currently there are no recommendations for anyone in the US to get vaccinated against h5n1. 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