What does Avian Influenza look like?
It mainly affects waterbirds and poultry. Typically it is a rapidly progressing respiratory disease with coughing, sneezing, rasping and sudden death. Swelling and darkening of the comb and wattles is common. Obviously the birds look sick! Poultry will drop feed and water intake and egg production will stop. Pandemic Human Influenza is not the same as Avian Influenza! A “pandemic” is a disease outbreak that affects a big proportion of the population quite rapidly. Human influenza pandemics occur irregularly – the last was in 1968. Human flu viruses change constantly – there is no way to predict which strain will cause a pandemic. Hasn’t the bird flu H5N1 already killed people? In fact there are now several forms of H5N1 ( the numbers are just a way of identifying this virus). Avian Influenza H5N1 has killed people worldwide since being discovered – it has a fatality rate of about 50% of infected people. Ordinary human flu viruses have killed millions of people in the same time. Deaths
