Bird Flu

Bird flu, or Avian Influenza, continues to spread around the world at an alarming rate. From early outbreaks in Asia, it has swept ever onwards through Africa, Eastern Europe and, more recently, to Western Europe and the UK.

Spread by migrating birds – particularly water fowl – the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is quick to infect domestic flocks of chickens, turkeys and geese. Infected birds rapidly become ill, with the disease proving fatal to almost 100% of its victims within 48 hours.

Infected birds shed the bird flu virus in their droppings, feathers and nasal secretions, making it very easy for the infection to be carried to new victims on the shoes or clothes of people working with the birds, or on equipment and vehicles used to transport them.

So far, the only humans to have become infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus have caught it through direct contact with infected birds. All of these almost 300 people became seriously ill, and majority of them died from the infection.

As yet, the bird flu virus has not learned how to spread amongst humans in the same way that it does amongst infected birds. However, the H5N1 bird flu virus is highly adaptable, and is extremely good at combining with other types of influenza virus.

Scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before bird flu combines with an influenza virus that already knows how to spread quickly and easily amongst humans. If that happens, the world will face a bird flu pandemic that could kill many millions of people around the globe.

The current treatment for humans infected with bird flu is Oseltamivir, or Tamiflu, as it is commercially known. However, some research suggests that the bird flu virus is already developing resistance to this drug, and, in any event, the drug is in extremely short supply.