How are people infected?
The main route of human infection is direct contact with infected poultry or surfaces and objects contaminated with their feces or blood. To date, most human cases have occurred in rural and periurban areas where households keep small poultry flocks that roam freely, often entering homes and sharing children’s outdoor play areas. Large quantities of the virus are excreted in the feces of infected poultry. In countries where poultry is relied upon for income and food, families slaughter and consume birds that are ill. Exposure occurs during slaughtering, defeathering, butchering and preparation of poultry for cooking. Infection in humans occurs with consumption of inadequately cooked poultry or raw poultry products such as duck’s blood. There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry or eggs are a source of infection.
