10 Facts About Bird Flu

Bird flu or avian influenza is the disease that wild birds and poultry get when they are infected by an avian influenza virus, which is different from human influenza viruses.

Here are 7 facts about bird flu:

1. The H5N1 avian influenza has been causing severe infection in birds since 2003. 

2. It has spread from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, affecting 30 countries.

3. The virus spread rapidly through poultry flocks and has a rate among infected birds of 90 to 100 per cent, often within 48 hours.

4. The H5N1 is still a bird virus. It is easily transmissible among birds but currently does not have the right molecules on its surface to enable it to become a human virus. 

5. The H5N1 virus requires intense and close exposure to sick birds or their droppings.  There is no evidence to date of sustained human-to-human transmission, which is the chain reaction spread of ordinary human seasonal flu.

6. However, because the H5N1 virus has caused some human infections, it has shown that it has the potential to become a human virus.  If it evolves into a human virus, it is likely to cause a human influenza pandemic.  How the virus will evolve is uncertain: it could happen suddenly; it could take years; or it might never happen.

7. The impact of a pandemic is hard to predict, but there will be increased illness because humans will have no immunity to the new virus. Mortality rates are likely to be increased and there may be social and economic disruptions. Children will be directly impacted by infections as well as by the potentially devastating social and economic impacts of a pandemic. Everybody needs to prepare for a possible pandemic.

Source: https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/flu_6388.html