Nature Communications
Open-access multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio.
Nature Communications published a University of British Columbia study in September 2026 finding that the H5N1 virus from Canada's first human case had lost grip on human-type and bird-type cell receptors alike.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026
Timeline for Nature Communications
Published the H5N1 lab study
Pandemics and Biosecurity: Mentioned in: Cambodia confirms sixth human H5N1 caseBackground
Nature Communications is an open-access, multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It covers the natural sciences, from physics and chemistry to biology and medicine. All its content has been free to read since January 2016.
In September 2026 it published a University of British Columbia study, led by Sriram Subramaniam, of the H5N1 virus that left a British Columbia teenager critically ill in November 2024, Canada's first human case. Two mutations in the virus's haemagglutinin, E190D and Q226H, weakened its binding to both human-type and bird-type cell receptors, the molecules on cell surfaces that the virus latches on to. Subramaniam said the result surprised his TEAM, because it ran against the common expectation.
The paper cut against the reading that the virus had been adapting to people. The question stays open: an Independent preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, argues that weaker binding could help the virus slip past mucus.
Nature Communications questioned the adaptation reading
In September 2026 Nature Communications carried the University of British Columbia's study of the H5N1 virus taken from a British Columbia teenager WHO fell critically ill in November 2024, Canada's first human case. Sriram Subramaniam's TEAM traced two haemagglutinin changes, E190D and Q226H, and found they loosened the virus's hold on human-type receptors as well as bird-type ones.
The paper appeared as Cambodia confirmed its sixth human case of 2026 on 27 September and as poultry outbreaks restarted in France, Sweden, Bulgaria and Canada. Hong Kong's health agency counted 11 human cases worldwide in 2026, against 81 in 2024. In that setting, the Nature Communications result weakens the case that the Canadian virus had begun adapting to people, though an unreviewed preprint links the weaker binding to escape from mucus.