Bird Flu: Deadly Mutations

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Like humans and other species like birds are susceptible to flu. Avian influenza, or “bird flu”, is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect birds. There are many types of bird, or avian, flu. There are nine different types and nine all take different forms - some are highly pathogenic, while some are pretty harmless. The type currently causing concern is the “highly pathogenic” Asian strain of the H5N1 virus. Scientists have discovered four different subtypes of H5N1, and there could well be more but all are deadly to birds, and can cause disease and death -in humans.
However, it is important to stress that H5N1 is overwhelmingly a disease that affects birds - and not humans. It is true that humans have been infected, but almost all have been poultry workers who have come into intimate contact with birds. H5N1 cannot pass easily from human to human. Migratory wild ducks are natural carriers of the viruses, but are unlikely to actually develop an infection. The risk is that they pass it on to domestic birds, which are much more susceptible to the virus. Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds. Birds excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry and become pulverised, and are then inhaled.
Symptoms are similar to other types of flu - fever, malaise, sore throats and coughs. People can also develop conjunctivitis. Researchers are now concerned is that the virus – if given enough opportunities – will change into a form that is highly infectious for humans and spreads easily from person to person. Such a change could mark the start of a global outbreak (a pandemic). This could mean that many illnesses, and even deaths.