about bird flu?

Question

I have three questions:
1.What is bird flu?
2.What could happen if bird flu pandemeic strike new zealand?
3.What could we do to prepare?

Answer 1

Oops! Tina forgot to cite her source, so I'll help out, since I'm sure she didn't mean to plagiarize.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/81/96857.htm?z=1728_00000_1000_sl_01

The flu that is currently being called "Bird Flu" or Avian Influenza H5N1, is highly virulent. This means that it spreads easily (between birds) and also makes them VERY sick.

People who have contracted H5N1 from handling sick poultry became very ill, and over half of them died. As of July 26, 232 people have contracted the disease, and 134 of them have died. (1)

Although I have heard many people talk about "stomach flu," influenza is a respiratory illness. In the 1918 pandemic (world-wide epidemic), perhaps 50 million people died.

There is no question that there will be another flu pandemic. We've had a number of them this century, but since 1918, none as virulent as H5N1 could be. At this point, I believe that our best defense is the fact that the world is researching faster ways to make a vaccine once the virus has mutated to make it transmittable between people. (This may not happen with this virus, but it will happen eventually with some flu virus. That's why we have flu shots for different strains each year.)

If there is a pandemic (which would include New Zealand, of course), what you could expect is an impact on any service provided or maintained by people. This would include trucking, agriculture, police and fire, health care--basically everything. Schools might be closed to prevent spread among children. If a vaccine is developed and manufactured in time, it will be the emergency people and health-care providers who get it first, but a large part of the sick population might have to take care of each other.

Prepare as you would for any natural disaster. Store food, water, medicines and first-aid supplies at home. Depending on the severity, power and gas utilities might no be operating at full strength. Think of what others do for you, and figure out how to do it yourself for a little while.

It's also possible, of course, that we have 5 or ten or even more years before such a pandemic happens. But having emergency supplies is a good idea at all times. The World Health Organization and individual governments have made plans to try to contain any outbreak with fast action, anti-viral drugs, and very careful monitoring.

The best place, in my opinion, to learn more (I've been fascinated by influenza for years) is WHO's Avian Influenza site:

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html

Answer 2

Bird flu, or avian influenzainfluenza, is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. Bird flu epidemics have occurred worldwide. The recent spread of bird flu has been localized to certain parts of Asia.

Migratory waterfowl - most notably wild ducks - are the natural reservoir of bird flu viruses. It's suspected that infection can spread from wild fowl to domestic poultry, including chickens and turkeys, and then to humans. Live bird markets have also played an important role in the spread of epidemics.

The current bird flu epidemic sweeping through southeast Asia is the largest ever recorded. Because the disease has spread to wild birds - including ducks, which carry the virus without getting sick - it will be hard, if not impossible, to eradicate the virus. Making matters worse, the virus has already learned to infect and kill mammals such as tigers, domestic cats, and pigs.

How Do Humans Get Bird Flu?

People catch bird flu by contact with infected birds or bird droppings. People don't catch the virus from eating fully cooked chicken or eggs. There have been a few cases where one infected person caught the bird flu virus from another person - but only after close personal contact.

Can I Catch Bird Flu From Another Person?

As long as the bird flu virus doesn't mutate into a human flu virus, it won't spread far in people. But sometimes - after close personal contact -- a person who gets bird flu does infect another person. It's not clear exactly how this happens. However, casual contact does not seem to be involved.

Has Bird Flu Been Seen in the U.S.?

Bird flu pops up in the U.S. from time to time. The last time a highly dangerous strain appeared was a February 2004 outbreak near Houston, Texas. This involved a different virus strain than the one circulating in Asia. By April 2004, the outbreak had been eradicated. No human infections were detected.

What Are the Symptoms of Bird Flu in Humans?

It changes every year. Humans who have caught this year's bird flu from chickens start out with normal flu-like symptoms. This worsens to become a severe respiratory disease that has been fatal in a high percentage of cases.

In February 2005, researchers in Vietnam reported human cases of bird flu in which the virus infected the brain and digestive tract of two children. Both died. These cases make it clear that bird flu in humans may not always look like typical cases of flu.

No human cases of bird flu have been seen in the U.S. or North America. But as a precaution, the CDC is asking people who have traveled to East Asia to see a doctor if they develop flu-like symptoms. If so, it's important to tell the doctor about having visited these areas so the proper tests can be done.

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

If a person -- or a susceptible animal -- gets infected with bird flu and human flu at the same time, the bird and human flu viruses could swap genes. If the new virus is as lethal as bird flu affecting poultry, and as contagious as human flu, it would be bad news.

It's also possible that bird flu could learn to infect humans even if it doesn't recombine with a human flu virus.

Even if it's a relatively mild new flu virus, it could spread rapidly across the globe. That's because most humans would have no immunity to the new kind of flu. During the 20th century, this happened three times.

But just because it happened before doesn't mean it will happen this time. While experts say it's inevitable that sooner or later we'll see another flu pandemic, it's by no means certain that the current bird flu virus will be the cause.

That having been said, health officials are urging swift action. "The world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic," Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organization's top Asia-Pacific official, said at a February 2005 bird flu conference in Vietnam.

Even if a new human flu emerges, public health officials might be able to contain it.

"I don't think we should be pessimistic," CDC director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, said in a Jan. 27 press conference. "When people are pessimistic about containment, I remind them that China did manage to contain SARS."

Is There a Vaccine?

The CDC and the WHO already have isolated "seed strains" of the current bird flu virus that can be used to make vaccine.

In February 2005, the U.S. National Institutes of Health said it was nearly ready to start safety tests on a vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur. According to the Associated Press, U.S. officials have already stored two million doses of the vaccine for possible emergency use.

Vietnam announced in February 2005 that its own bird flu vaccine was ready for human tests.

These results are promising. However, the world is far from having the billions of vaccine doses it would need to curb a pandemic. And since flu viruses change all the time, there's no guarantee that the vaccines will protect against the strain that might cause pandemic flu.

Is There a Treatment?

The bad news is that the current bird flu strain is immune to older flu drugs. However, the drug remains sensitive to the newer flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. Gerberding said that in response to this year's Fujian flu epidemic, the U.S. began making plans to stockpile Tamiflu. "We are talking with the manufacturer and are in the process of stockpiling significant quantities of the drug," Gerberding said on Jan. 27.

However, supplies remain short. There's only one plant making Tamiflu - and the U.S. isn't the only country desperately trying to build up a stockpile. Other countries, such as Britain, have also started stockpiling the drug.

Answer 3

Great info on this site: www.fluwikie.com