How Is Avian Influenza Transmitted Between People

How Is Avian Influenza Transmitted Between People ?

Avian influenza, popularly called bird flu, is a fatal and highly contagious disease caused by viruses and mostly affects birds and sometimes, other mammals. Mostly they affect specific species but in some occasions, they can cross the barrier and also infect humans.

There are various subtypes of Influenza A viruses but not all are pathogenic or cause diseases. It starts with a low pathogenic form showing mild symptoms and can become highly pathogenic quite rapidly causing a high rate of mortality.

The avian flu spreads to humans when they directly come in contact with the poultry or any virus contaminated surfaces. The infected poultry can rapidly spread the infection through the contaminated faeces.

The avian flu poses a couple of risks for the human health. When the infection passes on directly from the poultry to the humans it causes a very severe disease. In the past, the viral strain of H5N1 has been found in most of the humans who have died due to avian influenza virus. The symptoms start with mild infection in the respiratory system and follow an aggressive clinical course resulting in viral pneumonia and also failure of multiple organs. Later, they cause rapid deterioration to the health and are highly fatal in the end.

The second kind of risk is when the virus changes into a highly infectious form in humans and rapidly spreads from one person to another. This marks the beginning of a pandemic and becomes highly dangerous across countries. Outbreaks in humans have been reported in various countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Hong Kong in the past.

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How Is Avian Influenza Transmitted Between People