It is our goal and commitment to provide all natural health supplements to help increase the quality and longevity of your life.
Home » Cold-and-flu » Flu » Spreading of Bird Flu
How is Bird FLue Spreading
Though normally resistant to the viruses, the birds carry them in their intestines and distribute them through feces into the environment, where they infect susceptible domestic birds. Sick birds pass the viruses to healthy birds through saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Within a single region, bird flu is transmitted readily from farm to farm by airborne, feces-contaminated dust and soil, by contaminated clothing, feed, and equipment, or by wild animals carrying the virus on their bodies.
The disease is spread from region to region by migratory birds and through international trade in live poultry.
Humans who are in close contact with sick birds—for example, poultry farmers and slaughterhouse workers—are at the greatest risk of becoming infected. Virus-contaminated surfaces and intermediate hosts such as pigs can also be sources of infection for humans.
Although isolated instances of person-to-person transmission appear to have occurred since 1997, sustained transmission has not been observed. However, through a rapid evolutionary process called antigenic shift, two viral subtypes—e.g., one a bird flu virus such as H5N1 and the other a human influenza virus—can combine parts of their genetic makeup to produce a previously unknown viral subtype. If the new subtype causes severe disease in humans, spreads easily between people, and has a combination of surface proteins to which few people have immunity, the stage will be set for a new influenza pandemic to occur.
Article ID: 290
Word Count: 234
Total views: 426
Rating: Not yet rated
