| Avian influenza virus usually refers to influenza A | | | | could spread around the globe in days through |
| viruses found mainly in birds, but infections can occur | | | | modern jet travel by infected persons. |
| in humans. The risk is generally low to most people, | | | | The current bird flu, a strain known as H5N1, clearly |
| because the viruses do not usually infect humans. | | | | can be transmitted directly from poultry to people. |
| However, confirmed cases of human infection have | | | | Most cases have been traced directly to contact |
| been reported since 1997, and the current outbreak | | | | with sick birds, although human-to-human transmission |
| of bird flu worldwide increases the risk that the virus | | | | appears to have occurred in at least one instance. |
| will mutate into a form which can be spread person | | | | H5N1 first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, and as of |
| to person. | | | | July 26, 2006 there have been 232 cases of flu |
| All flu viruses are thought to have originated in birds. | | | | worldwide, mostly in Southeast Asia, according to the |
| But scientists also have long believed that in order to | | | | World Health Organization. Mortality has been greater |
| cause human epidemics, the viruses first had to | | | | than fifty percent. These figures include only patients |
| spread from birds to pigs, where genetic changes | | | | whose diagnosis has been confirmed by lab tests. |
| occur which allow the viruses to spread more easily in | | | | Cases of severe illness or death are most likely to be |
| mammals. Flu strains that are more birdlike are more | | | | diagnosed and reported, while milder cases go |
| dangerous to humans because their immune systems | | | | undiagnosed and unreported; therefor it is difficult to |
| have not been exposed to them before. | | | | know the true mortality rate from H5N1. |
| It is thought that the deadly 1918 flu epidemic, which | | | | Due to the fact that most cases are occurring in |
| killed 20 to 40 million people, derived from bird flu. | | | | third-world countries where health services and |
| Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe," the influenza | | | | reporting are poor, the actual number is likely much |
| pandemic of 1918-1919 was a global disaster, and it | | | | higher than the official count. Masato Tashiro, head of |
| has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in | | | | virology at the Tokyo National Institute of Infectious |
| recorded world history. More people died from | | | | Disease, gave a presentation at a virology |
| influenza in a single year than in four years of the | | | | conference in Marburg, Germany, on November 19, |
| Black Death or Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. | | | | 2005 about unofficial bird flu tallies from China. He |
| Obviously, it is of vital importance that bird flu be | | | | listed "several dozen" human outbreaks, nearly 300 |
| contained, and that any infected birds are culled. It | | | | deaths, 3000 people quarantined, and seven |
| would only require a handful of mutations in order for | | | | human-to-human transmissions. The meeting was |
| H5N1 avian flu to become a pandemic virus like the | | | | reported in the German newspaper Frankfurter |
| one which spread around the world in 1918. Once | | | | Allgemeine Zeitung. |
| human-to-human transmission evolves, the disease | | | | |