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Understanding The Bird Flu
You may have heard a lot about the bird flu on the news. Everyone is talking about it because there is the
potential that millions of people could become infected with it and many of them (more than half) may die from it.
With that said, you should also know that the bird flu is not a major threat to the human population as of yet
because it has not mutated into a virus that can be spread from person to person. It can only be spread from one
bird to the next. But, just what is the bird flu and where did it come from?
Many people are wondering the same thing. The bird flu, or H5N1 as it is technically called is a subtype of
influenza A. There are many strains of influenza circulating the world each year. The most common is that of the
annual flu. This is the human flu that goes around each year that you dread getting. Did you know that the human,
annual flu kills an estimated 36,000 people per year? It does and it is very important for you to realize that any
virus, including the common flu can be lethal especially when it is not taken care of.
The bird flu is a deadly strain of the influenza virus. Like all viruses, it can easily mutate into something new
and different with each passing day. In many cases, one strain of virus can mutate several times in the same
season. That is what makes it so difficult to stop the spread of these viruses. They simply can not come up with a
medication fast enough to stop it.
In birds, the bird flu can be passed through saliva, nasal secretions and through feces. Birds that are infected
with the bird flu can and usually do spread it from one to the next very rapidly. In birds, the virus has a 100%
mortality rate. The only way to stop the spread of the virus in birds is to kill off any infected birds. The birds
that have possibly come in contact with them will need to be killed as well. The problem with this is, though, that
some of these birds are migrating. This means that they may take it with them and pass it on to other birds in
distant areas.
The bird flu has the possibility of mutating into a virus that can be passed from one human to the next, even
though this has not happened as of yet. If this happens, those that come into contact with it will face a mortality
of more than 50% if not more. Although this has not happened as of yet, it possibly can happen in the next few
years.
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