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A new study has shown that bird flu continues to thrive even during a fever
Nicole Wootton-CaneFriday 28 November 2025 22:58 GMTComments
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Bird flu may be particularly severe in humans because it is resistant to one of the body’s most important defence systems, a new study has suggested.
When the human body responds to an infection its temperature will climb and generate a fever. This is one of the ways our bodies know to try and stop a virus from replicating and keep us from getting more seriously ill.
But new research has found bird flu may be resistant to this mechanism. The study by a team at the University of Cambridge and University of Glasgow found the infection continues to thrive even in higher temperatures, where human flu would usually suffer.
Birds typically have a higher temperature than humansThey said this could be because the virus originated in birds, who have a higher resting temperature than humans, meaning the virus is used to thriving in those conditions.
Human flu tends to stay in the upper respiratory tract, where temperatures are around 33. But bird flu viruses prefer to linger in the lower respiratory tract, where temperatures are around 40 to 42C.
In the findings published in the journal Science, researchers said their research showed flu viruses containing an avian origin PB1 subunit - a component of the enzyme that forms part of the virus - did continue to replicate even at higher temperatures.
Researchers added their findings could help explain why could help explain why viruses that originally affect birds could be more severe in humans.
Dr. Matt Turnbull, the study's first author from the Medical Research Council Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow, told Science Daily: "The ability of viruses to swap genes is a continued source of threat for emerging flu viruses. We've seen it happen before during previous pandemics, such as in 1957 and 1968, where a human virus swapped its PB1 gene with that from an avian strain. This may help explain why these pandemics caused serious illness in people.
"It's crucial that we monitor bird flu strains to help us prepare for potential outbreaks. Testing potential spillover viruses for how resistant they are likely to be to fever may help us identify more virulent strains."
It comes after the first human death caused by an H5N5 avian influenzavirus this month in the US. According to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health, the man, from Grays Harbor County, approximately 125 kilometres southwest of Seattle, kept a backyard flock of domestic poultry.
Health officials suspect these birds had been exposed to wild birds, leading to the infection.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement about the infection that said no information would suggest “the risk to public health has increased as a result of this case.”
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