bird flu


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For comprehensive information about avian flu, what you need to know, and what you may need to do, see the Flu Wiki. The Flu Wiki,, brings together all the information about avian flu, where it is, what is happening, what you can do, and any other news and developments.

The arrival of bird flu in Tema is most unfortunate. The virus has already circled the globe through the migrations of birds, so it can break out anywhere. If a pandemic flu hits, we can expect around 30% of ourselves and our neighbors to become ill and incapacitated. This will have a devastating effect on commerce, government, the water, food, and energy supplies, because around 30% of the workers will be ill and unable to work. H5N1, when it does effect humans, kills 56% of the people who get it. Luckily, so far, it is not easy for humans to get, although it can be devastating for domestic poultry.

The one circulating now in Asia and Africa and Europe in birds is H5N1, a particularly nasty character that kills more than 56% of those people who get it. While ducks and other birds can get H5N1 and live, it’s especially deadly to chickens and domestic poultry. It’s very difficult to catch, and even more difficult for humans to spread because the receptors in human airways for the current H5N1 are deep in the lungs of humans and not in the nose and throat.
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We don’t fully understand exactly how flu is spread, but the above basics apply. However, should something happen that would make a novel bird flu like H5N1 easier to spread, such as having the virus mutate to a form that likes the nose and upper airway receptors (so that it’s easy to catch and easy to spread by sneezing), or prefers the temperature of the human nose, it could start to spread in a human population.
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This has happened before. in fact, in 1918-9 H1N1 spread around the world, killing 50 million people. There were milder pandemics in 1957 and 1968, and we really haven’t seen one since, at least on that scale. But since we get around three each century, we are due, and that’s why scientists say that a pandemic of some sort is inevitable.

If you are worried about bird flu, can you eat poultry? Here is what the World Health Organization has to say about that:

Is it safe to eat poultry and poultry products?



