The Basic Fact of Avian Influenza

Could there ever be a Bird Flu Pandemic? This is a crucial question being asked by Scientists around the Globe. Regarding a bird flu pandemic. No-one is really sure if a pandemic will happen but there are relevant facts that “seem” to indicate a bird flu fandemic is ‘possible’. To date, very few viruses like the bird flu have crossed from one species to another and infected humans on a pandemic scale. Regarding those viruses that have crossed from one species to another, H5N1 strain of bird flu has created the largest number of ’severe cases’. Across Europe, the outbreak of this strain of bird flu has been held responsible for the death of 50% of those infected. Horrifyingly, the majority of the reported cases have been children and the elderly. To date, this deadly strain of bird flu has not spread from person-to-person in any great numbers, but all flu viruses can mutate! If this happened and the deadly form of bird flu, H5N1 , was readily passed from human-to-human we would see a declaration of a pandemic! This is a fear long-held by scientists, that a flu virus as deadly as the bird flu, strain H5N1, could readily pass from human to human. It would be globally devastating…

Recent History - Bird Flu.
During 1918 and 1919 around 50 million people from around the world died during a pandemic, which was named Spanish Flu. Because victims drowned in their own ‘fluids’, doctors mistakenly diagnosed a respiratory illness. Now we know it was a form of bird flu, which had mutated to humans. It was a variant strain of H1N1. Today we are faced with a more aggressive strain of bird flu known as H5N1, which if it mutates to humans, has the potential to kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide. To date there is no known vaccine. No known cure! Scientists say that, if left uncontrolled, bird flu, strain H5N1, could wipe out more than half the worlds population!! This current form of bird flu could mutate at any time. We have no remedy. It could become the most deadly viruses known to mankind.

Protection / Sensible Safe-Guards
As with all infectious illnesses, bird flu in particular, basic precations are the first and most important ‘line of defence’. Avoid large crowds. Avoid all places where many people congregate and move on. Avoid public meetings. This is, of course, impossible in the main because of the very nature of todays is world, airports, train stations, bus stations, surgeries, and schools. Offices with air conditioning, the list is endless.. So that brings us neatly to the next level of precaution against contracting the bird flu. The next, and most sensible precaution, is to wear face masks. These are an imperative if one needs to be in a public area for whatever reason. The W.H.O. made these following suggestions for the wearing of face masks to prevent being infected by H5N1 or Bird Flu.

• When one comes into direct contact with infected animals or people, the wearing of a P3, or highest category filter, face mask is essential!
• 2. If, on examination, there is no apparent infection the wearing of a P2 face mask is recommended.
• Unfortunatley the wearing of medical masks offer only minimal protection agaist the bird flu so, therefore, are not recommended.
• When one is wearing a mask as protection against bird flu, one must make sure the mask fits prefectly.
• One must also be aware that the bird flu is a biologically active virus and can enter the body via contact of any sort with the skin or eyes etc so other means of protection must be employed to totally protect one against the invasion of the bird flu infection.

The Future - Bird Flu
Around the Globe, Countries, Institutions and Scientists of every ‘ill’, are hunting down a vaccine to prevent - then cure - the bird flu. In the US, the NAIAD issued a very encouraging report on March 29th 2006 regarding a possible treatment for bird flu. Clinical trials showed that high doses of an experimental H5N1 avian influenza vaccine can induce immune responses in healthy adults. Approximately half of those volunteers who received an initial and a booster dose of the highest dosage of the vaccine tested in the trial developed levels of infection-fighting antibodies that current tests predict would neutralize the bird flu virus. This is a major step and all the study cases and notes are readily available should the need arise to fight a Global Pandemic of Bird Flu. To reach this ‘place’, countries around the Globe have contributed a variety of crucial resources and co-operated in a manner not known before. ‘Red-Tape’ has been cut to expedite the final solution for bird flu and, as a side effect, new channels have been found that will vastly speed up the exchange of information needed for a variety of Emergency Situations. With this level of co-operation we can breathe slightly more easily today but we must never relax! The next Pandemic is just around the corner.

Source: David Hill