CDC update on D1.1 sequence

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/h5n1-response-02262025.html
For some stupid reason the CDC is still claiming that the danger to humans is low even after one fatality, and two more hospitalizations due to D1.1 infection, and there haven't been that many D1.1 human infections.  The Ohio case was exposed to commercial birds and that sequence still is not available, but the sequence of the Nevada dairy worker and the Wyoming backyard poultry flock owner are.  The Nevada dairy worker has a sequence that is nearly identical to the virus isolated from the Nevada dairy herds.  It has the PB2 D701N mutation that is supposed to facilitate replication of the virus in mammals.  The Wyoming case has a different D1.1 virus that has another PB2 E627K mutation that is supposed to also facilitate replication of the virus in mammals.  Neither isolate has the same mutations that were found in the Louisiana fatality that would make the virus switch to human receptor infection.  The wild D1.1 genotype and the most recent human isolates still retain the avian receptor preference for the glycosylation less frequently found in mammals than is found in birds.  The Canadian critical case and the Louisiana fatality had the mutations needed to switch to the human receptor.
The CDC needs to make a concerted effort to inform people with birds exposed to wild birds that they need to monitor their animals closely, and at the first sign of influenza infection they need to minimize bird contact, and get someone to test their animals as quickly as possible. They likely have to tell people with backyard bird feeders that they should not pick up dead birds with their bare hands, and should take precautions so that they are not infected.  All the D1.1 hospitalizations had respiratory symptoms, and it is obvious that the D1.1 virus more easily infects respiratory tissue than does the B3.13 dairy genotype.  There is a need to reduce human infections and keep the mutations needed to adapt the virus to humans from happening like they did for the Louisiana and Canadian cases.
Ron Okimoto