Achoo, damn the ‘Bird Flu’

Ethnic cleansing to match that of Adolph Hitler’s, and panic to rival the end of days, all for a simple flu. You may have heard of the infamous ‘Bird Flu’ and some of you may even have strolled into your barn with a shot gun and the intention to switch to an all beef diet, but not all of you know where the disease comes from and how dangerous it truly is.
The bird flu is also known as the ‘Avian Influenza’, which has numerous sub-species, most of which are non-infectious. In cases where a particular strand is infectious, it is usually asymptomatic (does not cause or exhibit symptoms), so the carrier bird doesn’t really have a disease. Usually when a certain strain does show symptoms, it is the result of a mutation caused while crossing to a different bird species, which again usually results in symptoms so minor it is often ignored. However, with peoples needs for pets and domesticated birds, the mutation could occur several times while crossing the species barrier resulting in the creation of a strand of avian flu which can kill over 90% of an entire flock within days, and spread to other flocks in close proximity and kill over 90% of them, necessitating the need to essentially go Elmer Fudd and kill every bird and bunny in the area. Because migratory birds are capable of carrying H5N1, it also has the capacity to spread to other parts of the world.
The H5N1 strain of the avian disease is a particularly nasty one which allows for the exchange of genetic material between species, making it possible to infect humans. However, the species barrier is quite significant which makes cases of bird-to-human transmission a rarity. There is a little evidence of limited human-to-human transmission with research being conducted into the risk. The risk factor for contraction of the virus comes in when handling poultry, with about 60% of reported human infections from the current Asian strain leading to death. There is also a risk of the virus mutating and turning into a virulent disease capable of human-to-human transfer.
Generally if humans manage to contract a strain of the virus, their symptoms include, fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, conjunctivitis, and, in severe cases, breathing problems and fatal pneumonia. The severity of the infection may depend on the patients own immune systems ability to fight it off, or if they have been exposed to the strain before which may have left a lingering immunity. With the high mortality rate of the virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken an interest, and said that the statistics may be inaccurate due to a significant number of people never reporting or requiring treatment for the bug. Still the world has freaked out and appropriate to their paranoia the United States is working with the WHO, the FAO, the OIE and 88 foreign governments to address the issue with planning, greater monitoring (i am glad they have those spy satellites to keep an eye on those pesky birds) and full transparency in reporting and investigating avian flu occurrences. Not to mention the number of US government departments working together, with more efficiently than they did on the Middle East crisis, to co-ordinate a global response to the ‘threat’. All i can say is, ‘Polly wanna cracker?’
Mohsin