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WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF AVIAN FLU?
[5 NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT/SPORTS FINAL Edition]
Hartford Courant
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Hartford, Conn.
Abstract (Document Summary)
Right now, the bird-flu virus doesn't move from bird to human easily, requiring very close contact with an infected bird, feces or blood. In Asia, most of the people who have become infected are those who have raised poultry, killed and plucked birds, or worked closely with infected domestic or wild birds. For instance, in a few cases, handlers of fighting birds got sick after giving mouth-to- mouth resuscitation to an injured bird, notes Suresh Mittal, a Purdue University virology professor working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a vaccine. The worry isn't today's bird flu but what it might become tomorrow. We already know this flu is deadly, killing about half the people who catch it. The fear is that it will become more contagious, which could happen if it mutates or combines with a human virus. The risk is especially worrisome as infected birds migrate to Africa. There, people live in close quarters with animals and a large percentage of the population has HIV, possibly making them more vulnerable. All of this increases the risk that bird flu will combine with a human virus, and once that happens, the disease likely will spread quickly. No. The vaccine developed for the current flu season battles an entirely different variety of flu. Two other flu drugs, amantadine and rimantadine, are ineffective against bird flu right now. Two antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, might work to reduce symptoms of bird flu and shorten the duration of the illness. The prescription drugs must be taken within 48 hours of exposure. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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