Flu Facts
Bird flu was identified in 1900 and has spread worldwide. Also known as avian influenza, the virus has caused concern due to mutation of a particular strain of the disease. Although this virus so far only infected birds and other animals, namely pigs, since 1997, has also been known to infect humans.The strain of the disease that causes so much concern is H5N1. These are just numbers and letters representing the subtype of this particular strain of influenza subtypes 144. Not only has the virus caused an outbreak in poultry, but has recently been feared to be carrying a pandemic, or global epidemic in humans. While the virus was first identified in humans in 1997, it was not until 2004 that the diffusion became a major concern. At that time, there was a significant outbreak in Vietnam and Thailand, which spread to ten countries and regions in Asia in recent weeks and has killed 23 people. In three months the outbreak was contained after the slaughter of tens of millions of potentially infected birds. However, the damage was done and the virus had spread throughout Asia to lead to further outbreaks. Since then, H5N1 has spread throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and a low pathogenic form of the virus was identified in Canada on November 19, 2005. Currently, 131 people have been infected with the virus, resulting in 68 deaths. However, there are fears that this number will increase with the current spread of the disease. The main concern surrounding H5N1 is a mutation and the ability to infect humans. So far, the virus has spread from birds to humans, and human to human transmission has only been suspected but not confirmed. Once the virus mutates more easily pass through humans, causing disease to spread rapidly. Influenza pandemics, or worldwide epidemics have caused many deaths in the past, including the Spanish flu that killed 50 million people in 1918. This is the fundamental concern with the mutation and spread of the H5N1 virus. At this point, the primary cause of infection was due to the consumption or handling sick birds. Unfortunately, there have been few cases that are not easily explained, and therefore, human to human transmission is suspected. However, this has not been confirmed in any of the cases of H5N1 infection.
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