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What is avian influenza (bird flu)?
Avian influenza is caused by a virus that exists naturally in wild birds. Wild birds usually do not become sick, but they carry the virus and can pass it on to non-wild birds, such as chickens, turkeys, and ducks (fowl), which can become very sick and die.
How is the disease spread?
Certain water birds act as hosts to influenza viruses by carrying the virus in their intestines and shedding it in bodily fluids, such as saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Other birds are infected when they come in contact with these fluids. Humans can become infected through contact with infected poultry or these contaminated fluids.
Do bird flu viruses infect people?
Bird flu viruses do not generally infect people, but there have been several instances of human infection from bird flu viruses since the first reported case in 1997. There are many different types, and only a few of them can make people sick, including the H5N1 strain recently seen in Asia.
What is the risk in the U.S. to people from the H5N1 virus overseas?
The H5N1 virus does not usually infect humans. There have been some cases of people becoming sick in Asia, but because all influenza viruses have the ability to change, scientists are concerned that the H5N1 virus could one day be able to easily infect people and spread from person to person. If this happens and the influenza spreads around the world it would be called a pandemic.
Avian influenza resources:
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