Bird flu, previously only a concern for poultry farmers, has mutated and can now infect humans. The virus spreads through direct contact with birds and can cause respiratory infections that resist treatment. While human-to-human transmission is not yet contagious, scientists warn of an impending pandemic.
For more than a century, bird flu has been circulating among birds, particularly domestic birds, but recently attention has been drawn to bird flu as certain strains have infected humans. Bird flu is no longer confined to pigs and birds, as the virus has gotten stronger and mutated, causing a contagion that can pass from bird to human. Human cases of bird flu have caused infections and deaths around the world as scientists struggle to identify dangerous strains and prevent a fatal pandemic.
We have long known that bird flu existed in animals, often killing both wild and domestic populations. These viruses belong to related flu types that evolve and mutate just like any virus. We were mainly concerned about losing valuable birds that supplied poultry farmers with eggs or meat. However, things changed in 1997 when bird flu appeared to prove fatal to the people of Hong Kong.
A pathogenic, or active, strain of avian flu quickly kills birds and spreads rapidly through a population. If a wild migratory bird catches the flu, it can carry it many miles to other wild or domesticated groups. These viruses evolve in two ways, through drift and displacement. Drift refers to inexact replication, such that newer viruses are further from the original genetic material, but share enough DNA that they are still only spread among a single species. When a virus moves, it means that genes from one virus mix, or reproduce, with a different virus, usually within a carrier. Due to the change, bird flu mixed with a type of human flu, and was then able to infect humans through direct contact with birds.
Human cases of bird flu are incredibly alarming and have raised the concern of virologists and government agencies in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada and other countries. This impending pandemic could only be controlled by the vast slaughter of millions of birds to contain the virus that spreads through the air, water and soil. Bird flu is especially dangerous because our immune systems lack antibodies to handle something previously relegated to animals. Therefore, it takes hold with unprecedented force, settles in the lungs and resists antiviral and antibacterial drugs.
Most health experts researching and battling the incidence of human bird flu don’t have an optimistic outlook. They point out that the pathogen does not appear to have evolved in such a way that human-to-human contact is contagious, yet it remains that people who work with birds, swim in infected rivers, play in an area where carcasses have been buried or breathe air near a poultry processing plant, it can lead to infection.
So far, doctors have been able to diagnose bird flu, identify the specific strain, and target the proper disposal of infected birds. Yet they are ineffective at treating the resulting respiratory infection, which leads to deaths. They note that flu epidemics and pandemics appear to be inevitable given the history of contagious diseases over the past few centuries.
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