How does Bird Flue spread and how can it be treated and/or prevented?

Question

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Answer 1

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/facts.htm

Answer 2

Bird flu is a product of media hype. It brings viewers to tv news and sells newspapers. Really, this is a threat that, like terrorism, has been blown all out of proportion by the media. Just don't kiss any sick chickens and you'll be fine.

EDIT: "Vlado" is a good example of the kind of hysteria that this sort of thing can evoke. H5N1, Avian flu, is NOT evolving. It will spread from bird to bird, and when humans are in very close contact with sick birds, they may catch it from a bird, but it is NOT being transmitted from human to human. It has not, it cannot, it will not, and any microbiologist who says otherwise is a liar, period.

H5N1 first appeared in 1997. Since then, approximately 180 humans have died from it. Over a period of 10 years. Sound like a pandemic to you? Comparisons have been made to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. These comparisons are invalid. During World War I, tens of thousands of soldiers were packed together in filthy trenches, and sanitation was a far cry from what we have today.

If you are old enough, you may remember other such panics: anthrax, swine flu, SARS, Legionnaire Disease etc. When you hear that the sky is falling, ask yourself who benefits from this fear-mongering? Who stands to gain?

Answer 3

H5N1 has evolved into a flu virus strain that infects more species than any previously known flu virus strain, is deadlier than any previously known flu virus strain, and continues to evolve becoming both more widespread and more deadly causing a leading expert on avian flu to publish an article titled "The world is teetering on the edge of a pandemic that could kill a large fraction of the human population" in American Scientist. He called for adequate resources to fight what he sees as a major world threat to possibly billions of lives.[9] Since the article was written, the world community has spent billions of dollars fighting this threat with limited success. It is a race between an exceptionally fast mutating virus and modern scientific research capabilities, with the winner of the race still in doubt.

Answer 4

Bird flu? Perhaps you mean Avian flu. I googled Bird flu and got a few different viruses, lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_flu