00:00Bird Influenzas are known not only for their danger and severity, but also for their ability to jump to other creatures, including humans.
00:07However, recently the ongoing H5N1 bird flu was detected in an animal already having a rough go of things, a polar bear.
00:15It was discovered dead in northern Alaska, and the same strain has already been detected in myriad other animals and even people.
00:22Luckily in humans, the symptoms appear mild, but this recent jumping to polar bears highlights an important aspect about influenza viruses.
00:29They are extremely highly adaptable, with simple genetic codes which can easily change via two avenues.
00:35The first is mutation, or changing due to random chance.
00:38However, flu viruses can also shift their code with reassortment, or when two viruses in the same host share genetic material and create new, never-before-seen genomes.
00:47This gives flu viruses a better chance to not only survive, but it could change the way the virus works moving forward as well.
00:53A big concern for epidemiologists is whether those mutations or reassortments allow for human-to-human transmission, something not yet detected in the most recent H5N1 virus.
01:04So how did the polar bear become infected?
01:06Conservationists are hopeful it was a chance encounter with an infected bird, and not transmitted from another bear.
