Bird Flu - Information to be aware of
Bird flu is a disease of birds that is very infectious which is caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. There have been epidemics of this around the world with the most recent being in parts of Asia. The disease is carried by migratory fowl, specifically wild ducks. It has been suspected that the disease can spread from the wild fowl to domestic poultry such as chicken and turkeys and eventually can spread to humans. The current strain of the bird flu that is in Asia right now is one of the largest to date. Because bird flu has spread to wild birds, it will be very difficult to kill the virus. To make everything worse, the virus has already infected and killed mammals such as tigers, pigs and domestic cats.
So how do humans get bird flu? They can catch it by coming in contact with infected eggs or even birds droppings. They can’t catch the virus by eating fully cooked chicken or eggs. There has only been one case reported where one person who was infected caught the virus from another person, but this was only after they had close personal contact. As long as the bird flu doesn’t mutate into a human virus, it won’t spread very far in people.
What symptoms should humans be aware of? Most of the time, people start out with the normal symptoms such as sore throat, muscle aches, coughing, etc. However, this eventually worsens into a severe respiratory disease which has been fatal in many cases. To date, there haven’t been any human cases of bird flu in the United States but as a precaution, the CDC is asking people who have traveled to Asia to report any symptoms they may have experienced upon return.
At this point in time, if a person or animal becomes infected with bird flu and human virus at the same time, they could possibly swap genes. If the new strain of this virus is as lethal as the bird flu that is affecting poultry and is as contagious as the human’s virus is, the outcome would be extremely bad. Because humans wouldn’t have any immunity to the new virus, it could very easily spread around the world.
Currently, there is not enough vaccine available to protect humans from the virus but it is something that officials are working on. There are certain drugs that are on the market such as Tamiflu and Relenza which help to alleviate the symptoms, but currently, nothing apparently gets rid of it.