Archive for the ‘Information’ Category
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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.
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The strain of bird flu that has infected people in Asia and the Middle East recently is called H5N1. H5N1 is one of the
strains that are dangerous to birds.
The people who became infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu caught it directly from birds. H5N1 cannot be spread from
person to person. Experts are concerned that the H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate (change) into a new form that can
spread from person to person. This has happened in past flu outbreaks and has caused what is known as a pandemic. The
symptoms of bird flu in people tend to be similar to the typical flu: fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches. But this flu
can also lead to eye infections, pneumonia, and severe coughing and breathing problems. Doctors hope that certain antiviral
medications will help keep the flu from spreading if it becomes contagious to humans. These medications can’t cure bird flu,
but they can make the symptoms less severe.
Medical News Today Published:
Time Magazine this week cited the approval of a bird flu vaccine earlier this year as the top medical development in 2007. Key testing of the vaccine, the first ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent bird flu, was done by doctors and nurses at the University of Rochester Medical Center. More than 750 people in the Rochester area have taken part in studies of bird flu vaccines at the University. Crucial testing of the vaccine was led by John Treanor, M.D., professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. His team on the University’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, together with scientists around the nation, showed that large doses of the vaccine are safe and effective at protecting people against bird flu. Read the full report here.
The recent news on a son-to-father bird flu infection should not cause alarm. Studies done on the samples taken from father and son shows that the virus has not yet mutated into a highly contagious strain. The people with whom the father and son came into contact with were also not infected, an indication that the virus must have been passed on due to very intimate contact. This is good news as people are fearing a pandemic. But despite this development, authorities and researchers are still on the watch for further spread, and are continuously searching for a vaccine to fight the deadly disease.
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A recent report has confirmed that a father and son in China had been infected with bird flu, wherein the son caught the virus in a poultry market, and the father caught the flu from his son. The 24-year old son died while the 52-year old father survived after being treated and vaccinated in a H5N1 clinical trial. Other family members, colleagues and friends were also treated to make sure the virus does not spread. All the others tested negative for the H5N1 virus, which means the virus does not easily spread through casual contact. Samples of the virus from father and son showed almost identical genetic characteristics.
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