In Brief: Avian flu outbreak prompts West Bank chicken cull
H1N1 to Be Included in Seasonal Flu Vaccine The H1N1 virus will be included in the 2010/2011 seasonal flu vaccine. Rambo Memorial Health Center already placed its order for next year’s vaccine back in November. It includes three strains of flu that the health community feels will impact the public most next flu season. Read more on WHIZ News Zanesville In Brief: Avian flu outbreak prompts West Bank chicken cull Source: IRIN Animal cases of avian flu in Bala village in the Tul Karem area of the West Bank, northeast of Tel Aviv, have been confirmed, and some 250,000 chickens culled, according to officials. Read more on AlertNet
Avian Influenza (bird Flu) Particular Concerns
Avian Influenza first occurred in Italy, but nowdays is spread along the world. It is an infectious disease caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. All birds are supposed to be susceptible to the avian influenza, but particularly domestic poultry. Recombined with the human influenza viruses form a totally new influenza virus to which people do not have protection that spreads in the population and that causes serious illness and death in humans. Bird Flu is an infectious disease of birds that can also affect people. It can present mild or severe forms of illness. The only subtype that can cause severe illness to people is Influenza A /H5N1 virus, initially it affects chickens, ducks and other birds by the process of mutation they can become highly pathogenic. If the bird flu virus recombines with a human flu virus and mutate it may become possible the transmission from human to human as happened in Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia Thailand, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Eygpt, China, and Iraq where people died. Bird flu affected Australia in 1997 but, was eradicated. Water birds are supposed to carry the avian influenza type A virus inside their intestines and to distribute [...]
Avian Influenza Prevention and Treatments
Avian influenza affects chickens and the poultry industry, recombined with the human influenza viruses form a totally new influenza virus to which people do not have protection that spreads in the population and that causes serious illness and death in humans. Bird Flu is an infectious disease of birds that can also affect people. It can present mild or severe forms of illness. The only subtype that can cause severe illness to people is Influenza A /H5N1 virus, initially it affects chickens, ducks and other birds by the process of mutation they can become highly pathogenic. If the bird flu virus recombines with a human flu virus and mutate it may become possible the transmission from human to human as happened in Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia Thailand, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Eygpt, China, and Iraq where people died. Bird flu affected Australia in 1997 but, was eradicated. Water birds are supposed to carry the avian influenza type A virus inside their intestines and to distribute it in the environment through bird faeces. Infection determines many symptoms in wild and domesticated birds from mild illnesses to highly contagious and severe epidemics. Among them a decline in activity and in egg production, [...]
Information on Avian Flu
Avian flu is caused due to the H5N1 virus which is transmitted from the saliva, fecal matter of the birds. The disease is highly contagious and causes death of birds and poultry population. The virus is lethal and assumes the proportion of pandemic, which can wipe out the entire population of birds and poultry. The virus also spreads to the human beings if they are in contact with the sick bird or poultry. Human beings are also afflicted by the virus which can even be life threatening. Influenza, commonly called “the flu,” is an illness caused by viruses that infect the respiratory tract. Compared with most other viral respiratory infections, such as the common cold, influenza (flu) infection often causes a more severe illness with a mortality rate (death rate) of about 0.1% of people who are infected with the virus. Unusually severe worldwide outbreaks (pandemics) have occurred several times in the last 100 years since influenza virus was identified in 1933. Bird flu is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These flu viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. [...]
What is Avian Flu and Causes of Avian Flu
The avian flu that has affected birds and people in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, is different from the flu that many people get during the cold-weather months. Poultry — like chickens and turkeys — tend to get infected with the bird flu by migrating waterfowl (like ducks, geese, and swans), and spread it to other birds through their infected feces, saliva, or secretions. Avian influenza is flu infection in birds. The disease is of concern to humans, who have no immunity against it. The virus that causes this infection in birds can mutate (change) to easily infect humans. Such mutation can start a deadly worldwide epidemic. Avian Flu Causes The ABCs of influenza viruses Influenza viruses are divided into three types (strains) of viruses — influenza A, B and C. Type A is responsible for the deadly influenza pandemics. Type B can lead to smaller, more localized outbreaks. Less common and more stable than other strains, type C has milder symptoms. Either types A or B can cause the flu that circulates almost every winter. Farmers and other people working with poultry, as well as travelers visiting affected countries, have a higher risk for getting the bird [...]
Understanding The Avian Bird Flu Virus And A Look Into Its History
Avian bird flu, a viral disease, also termed as bird flu, avian influenza, type A flu or genus. This flu is a kind of influenza hosted by birds but can affect other animals and particularly humans also. The virus in general is the influenza virus ‘A’ but is a bit different every time the flu breaks out, because of the evolutionary changes it keeps undergoing. New viruses keep getting formed because of genetic mutation and are named using a H number and an N number, which denote different pathogenic profiles. Some of those ones which for sure affect human populace and did so in the past are, H1N1 (Spanish flu, 1918-19) H2N2 (Asian flu, 1957-58), H3N2 (Hong Kong flu, 1968-69), etc. Some of those identified are extinct now because of the constant mutations taking place in the structure of the virus which self destructs its capabilities to infect humans anymore. Also new viruses have come up and currently the major pandemic (epidemic over a wide geographical area) threat is from H5N1 virus. It was first discovered in Italy in 1878 and was even called fowl plague because of the enormity of its effect in chicken livestock. It was however only [...]