Avian influenza (also known as bird flu) is a
type of influenza virulent in birds.
It was first identified in Italy in the early 1900s and is now
known to exist worldwide. The causative agent is the avian influenza
(AI) virus. AI viruses all belong to the influenza virus A genus of
the Orthomyxoviridae family and are negative-stranded, segmented RNA
viruses. Avian influenza spreads in the air and in manure. Wild fowl
often act as resistant carriers, spreading it to more susceptible
domestic stocks. It can also be transmitted by contaminated feed,
water, equipment and clothing; however, there is no evidence that
the virus can survive in well cooked meat. The incubation period is
3 to 5 days. Symptoms in animals vary, but virulent strains can
cause death within a few days.
Human cases of
bird flu are incredibly alarming, and raised the concern of
virologists and government agencies in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Canada, and other countries.
This imminent pandemic could only be controlled by the vast
slaughter of millions of fowl to contain the virus that spreads by
air, water, and soil. The bird flu is especially dangerous because
our immune systems don’t have any antibodies to handle something
that used to be relegated to animals. Thus, it takes hold with
unprecedented force, settles in the lungs, and resists anti-viral
and anti-bacterial medication. Most health experts researching and
fighting the incidence of human
bird flu do not have an optimistic outlook. They point out
that the pathogen has not appeared to evolve such that
human-to-human contact is contagious, yet it remains that people
working with fowl, swimming in infected rivers, playing in an area
where carcasses were buried, or breathing air near a poultry
processing plant, can lead to infection.
A strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus that may unleash the next
global flu pandemic is showing resistance to Tamiflu, the antiviral
drug that countries around the world are now stockpiling to fend off
the looming threat. Washington is abuzz with efforts to avoid an
avian flu pandemic: President Bush is meeting vaccine industry
officials and the State Department is convening 65 countries to
discuss international prevention efforts. But lawmakers from both
parties say preparations are not happening fast enough.
Southeast Asia is the perfect starting point for a bird flu
pandemic.
Millions of people are in close proximity
to each other and to the birds that can carry the deadly virus.
Vietnam is the hardest-hit nation, where wandering domestic chickens
have spread the bird flu from farm to farm. Villagers who catch the
virus complain of fever one day and are dead the next. The United
States and China have sent money to Vietnam to help vaccinate 260
million birds, but the disease is spreading faster than the vaccine.
If one bird is sick, the entire flock is destroyed, but not the ones
on neighbouring farms, a situation some experts believe is helping
to perpetuate the disease.
Is a bird flu pandemic inevitable?
Hong Kong is clear of the virus for now,
but health officials are resigned to the fact that an outbreak is
coming.
“We cannot stop
that from happening,” said Dr. Ronald Lam, in charge of Hong Kong’s
emergency medical response. “Definitely pandemic will come.”
Hospitals,
nursing homes and clinics are monitored for signs of influenza.
Every incoming passenger at the airport is electronically scanned
for fever.
Experts fear that
if the disease becomes contagious among people, someone boarding a
plane in a place like Hong Kong could spread the virus around the
world in a matter of hours.
"You'd be
surprised how fast that virus can travel from a Third World,
backward country farm into New York City,” said Dr. Frederick Leung
of Hong Kong University, who has studied the avian virus for years.
"I bet it is faster than a terrorist can arrive."
“Viruses observe
no country boundaries,” added Leung, whose lab is often called upon
to verify and track the deadly flu. “The virus doesn’t apply for a
visa to go travel.”
By Charles Hadlock
Correspondent
NBC News
Charles Hadlock is an NBC Correspondent on assignment in China.
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