how will the bird flu reach the USA?
409462
There is an opportunity of the virus spreading by fowl migrating from Siberia's Tyumen region to Alaska and mixing there with birds flying to Canada and to other parts of the United States.\nBird flu mutation is possible in the countries where the number of different viruses is high. This group includes the United States.\nThe virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu could reach the Americas in six to 12 months or even sooner as infected wild birds migrate toward the Arctic and Alaska, the U.N. bird flu chief said.
141270
Whatever ...\nBoth will now die due to the avian flu ..
1179280
It has to do with the level of industrialization of countries, I think.  In the US, for instance, people don't have their children pluck chickens to eat, because we have machines that do it for us.  (The first and most common cases of bird flu in Asia are young boys who pluck chickens, it's this contact with the dead birds bloody body that passes the disease)  If there was a virus in chickens, a)it would die on the dead bird before people bought it because it couldn't feed off the dead bird's cells, or b) it would be killed in our ultra-efficient gas stoves.  We don't like to kill animals or handle their bodies in the US because our level of industrialization is such that we don't have to, so, less chance of bird flu.\n\nIn Africa, the spread of and the inception of diseases also has to do with industrialization because people tend to live closer to wild animals and to forest or jungle (We clear large swaths of land to build huge cities or suburban towns, but in smaller African towns people live nearer to wildlife).  This is why sometimes diseases like AIDS or Ebola will "come out of the jungle", meaning that someone had an encounter with a wild animal who had the disease, and they spread it to others in the town.  People tavelling from town to town or from towns to cities bring the diseases far, but they originate when people have encounters with wild animals.\n\nThe US is just so removed from wildlife because of our high level of industrialization that we don't often get diseases straight from animals: they have to be borne human-to-human to reach us, which I think in these cases is a good thing!
543860
I imagine it could come in with imported birds. There are people who smuggle in the kinds of birds that are pets. Here is information on a treatment. They also recommend you get a pneumonia shot as a lot of the deaths are due to pneumonia\n\nLaboratory tests show Sambucol® neutralises Common and Avian Flu Virus H5N1 \nAdded: (Thu Jan 19 2006) \n\nNew research, carried out by Retroscreen Virology has indicated that \nSambucol®, a patented formula, may fight the virulent Avian Flu virus. Results have been presented yesterday, Wednesday, in a press conference held in the Royal Society of Medicine, London. Speakers included Prof. Hannoun, Emeritus Professor at the Pasteur Institute and Dr. Mumcuoglu, developer of Sambucol®. \n\nLaboratory trials held in a leading research institute, Retroscreen Virology \nLtd, associated with the University of London found Sambucol® to be at least \n99% effective against the Avian Flu virus H5N1. Sambucol® was effective at \nsignificantly neutralising the infectivity of the virus in cell cultures. These \nresults will also be presented during the International Conference on Bird Flu: \n“The First Pandemic of the 21st Century. A Central Role for Antivirals”, to be \nheld at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital on January 19th-20th 2006. \n\nDr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, is looking into further investigations into the \nactivity of Sambucol® against Avian Flu on a wider scale. \n\nIn an earlier study (1995) Sambucol® was found to be effective against a wide range of influenza strains. Laboratory studies conducted at the Hebrew \nUniversity – Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem demonstrated the activity \nof Sambucol® against human, swine, and avian influenza strains. \nSambucol®'s efficacy was also demonstrated in two double blind, placebo \ncontrolled clinical studies. Sambucol® was shown to cut the duration and \nseverity of the common flu by up to half. \n\nENDS \n\nNotes to editors; \nSambucol® is based on an active substance isolated from the black elderberry. \nManufactured by Razei Bar Industries Israel, Sambucol® is available in 17 \ncountries and in the UK is sold in Tesco, leading chemists, independent health \nfood stores and wholesalers from £8.49. \n\nFor photography please visit the following site and enter the log in details: \nFTP address: ftp://pixelit.co.il \nuser name: ftp_razeibar \npassword: 63+84675 \n\n\nFor further press information please contact: Francesca Gaffey/Cheryl Davies, \nCommunique Public Relations, Waterside, No2 Canal Street, Manchester, M1 \n3HE. Tel: 0161 242 5120/0161 242 5108 Fax: 0161 228 7391 E-mail: \nfrancesca.gaffey@communiquepr.co.uk cheryl.davies@communiquepr.co.uk \n\nFor research information please visit: Retroscreen Virology Ltd. at: \nhttp://www.retroscreen.com/ \n\nFor product information please visit: \nRazei Bar Industries (1996) Ltd. At: www.sambucol.com
509603
I believe that the Bird Flu will be the next scare here in the U.S.  Remember the West Nile Virus?  The virus carried infected mosquitoes from Africa and infected millions.  Now only one percent of the people infected needed serious medical attention just here in the United States.  And only one percent of that one percent lived.  The outcome of the illness was severe brain damage, long and short term memory loss, stroke(s), blindness, speech, and other major normal day use of your body.  Their lives were basically destroyed.  The government have not been very helpful on getting these people help either.  \nBut, I feel the government is preparing for the pandemic properly.  Better be safe than sorry.  As for the people out there saying it is all propaganda, I'd like to smack them right here and now.\nI...ME...MYSELF was infected with that damn mosquito that nobody believed was ever going to happen and the government was just talking...propaganda.  \nMy life is hell to say the least.  I fight everyday to regain my strength, my day to day life living.  I have lost so many people near and dear to me because I got sick.  \nSo all of you out there that thinks this is all propaganda, write on here after you become infected with the pandemic so you can tell all of us how you were wrong.  Don't ever think it can never happen to you, because it can. Do not be ignorant and listen to warnings.  I guess the mistake I made was not using insect repellant.  One mistake I will never make again.\nWhy would our government want to mislead us in such a tragic way?  Don't you think the war we are in now is tragic enough?\nQuit being fools and listen to all health bulletins when and if the pandemic comes close to the States.
451577
Relax.  The media in the US is making people crazy about bird flu.  The rest of the world isn't concerned. Turn off the tv.
252186
No way to tell how bad it would be if the virus changes enough to become readily contagious in humans, as most of the  'regular' flu viruses are. \n\nAvian flu viruses have some common characteristics  which allow them to infect birds, and the 1981 "Spanish flu" (which killed maybe 40 or more million worldwide. Enough has now been recovered frmm improperly prepared human bodies buried in the Arctic permafrost in 1918, to be certain the samples found must have a bird flu virus oringinally. 1918 was our species' (ie, humans) only known encounter with a human contagious avian flu. \n\nIf this one changes (no one knows quite how it would need to so) to become human infectious, then it'spossible we'll have a 1918 type epidemic. If we do, the death toll will be high as there are far more people on the planet, they are packed tightly together in many places, and there's a goodly bit of malnutrition, existing diseases, stres, warfare, etc that the death toll is likley to higher on a percentage basis than last time. \n\nNote VERY carefully: we do not know what will have to happen to the virus for it to become contagious in humans. Nor, if it does, whether it will retain the high mortality rate in such folks it currently has. And so most anything said about it is speculation. No matter who says it -- doctor, politician, civil service staff, vendors of stuff to help and some of which will be stuff that's illegal to bring into the country, etc. Avoid going along with anyone who's pushing some agenda (including sales and profit). \n\nNo final nor easy answer.
218611
It is transmittable to human if a human being comes in contact with an infected bird. It is not yet transmittable from human to human. So as long as you do not touch the death  or infected birds you are not considerd to be cathing this flue. For the symptoms I cannot give you the correct answer so search for it on a searchengine.
595908
Fortunately, the H5N1 virus has not mutated to be contracted through humans.  It is only possible (as of now) to contract it through close contact with a bird that is infected.  When and if it does mutate to be transmittable via human contact, that's when we should start worrying.  Studies show that the virus will probably start in California (because it is so populated and birds are coming from Asia), and will take only 2-4 WEEKS to reach the east coast.  They do have medicine for this string of influenza but not nearly enough to cover all of the American citizens.
142970
No, I don't think so.  My understanding is you would have to be living in very close surroundings with poultry that have the virus, or in close contact with live birds.\n\nHowever, I guess we'll be discovering new stuff about bird flu for years to come.
521591
UPDATED The H5N1 strain of influenza - often referred to as bird flu - is first known to have jumped from chickens to humans\n\nin 1997. Since 2004 it has ripped through poultry and wild bird populations across Eurasia, and had a 53% mortality rate in the first 147 people it is known to have infected. Health authorities fear this strain, or its descendent, could cause a lethal new flu pandemic in people with the potential to kill billions.\n\nFlu has been a regular scourge of humanity for thousands of years. Flu viruses each possess a mere 10 genes encoded in RNA. All of the 16 known genetic subgroups originate in water birds, and especially in ducks. The virus is well adapted to their immune systems, and does not usually make them sick. This leaves the animals free to move around and spread the virus - just what it needs to persist.\n\nBut sometimes a bird flu virus jumps to an animal whose immune system it is not adapted to. In chickens - originally a forest bird and not a natural host - it causes a moderate disease but can readily mutate to a more severe, highly pathogenic strain. Just such a strain of H5N1 flu, named after its surface proteins, began rampaging through large chicken farms in east Asia sometime before 2003.\n\nThat was of concern because, in 1997, scientists found for the first time that H5 flu could infect humans. It was found in 18 people, six of whom died. All the poultry in Hong Kong were destroyed to stop the threat. But it continued to circulate, especially in China.\n\nThere were further human cases in China in 2003. Then in early 2004 Vietnam reported widespread poultry outbreaks and some human cases. After initial denials, Cambodia and Thailand admitted they had outbreaks too, followed by Indonesia, then China. That was immediately after China had denied a New Scientist report that scientists strongly suspected Chinese outbreaks.\n\nThe infection also reached Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, but mass culling stopped it spreading there. But outbreaks continued in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, where the virus persisted, most probably in ducks. In 2005, China and Indonesia reported their first human cases.\n\nEuropean invasion\nIn summer 2005 the virus swept across birds in Russia and Kazakhstan, reaching the Ukraine by January 2006. However, there were no reported human c ases outside East Asia until December 2005. Then, the virus suddenly appeared in poultry all over Turkey accompanied by the fastest upsurge in human cases yet seen.\n\nBut scientists insisted that the virus’s arrival in Europe did not pose a greater threat of a pandemic than its continued spread in Asia.\n\nAttempts to blame the rapid spread of the virus in the Far East on wild birds were discounted early on, so efforts to explain its spread across Eurasia in that way were greeted with suspicion. But in May 2005, thousands of geese died of H5N1 at Qinghai Lake in north-central China. The virus was very similar to isolated samples from southeast China, showing, despite official denials, that it originated there. But it had distinctive differences. This same strain then turned up in H5N1 isolates from poultry and wild birds across Russia, Turkey and Romania, suggesting that this time it probably was being carried by wild birds.\n\nMeanwhile east Asian H5N1 turned up in imported Taiwanese birds in quarantine in Britain. This, combined with a near-miss with infected eagles smuggled into Belgium, led to a European clamp-down on wild bird imports.\n\nThe virulent strain could to revert to a relatively harmless wild type in wild birds. However, while it is there, it could be carried to poultry far and wide. It has now reached Africa - where it is feared it could run riot. Wild birds are also implicated in its spread across Europe.\n\nYet governments resisted repeated UN calls for money to eradicate the poultry infection in poor countries. The World Bank renewed calls for such aid in early 2006, while all afflicted countries struggled to s
120313
So far bird flu is not contagious from human to human.  So unless someone brings home a flock of chickens, I don't think you have much to worry about.
1182174
Its real, but its a non-issue.\n\nBird flu is just BS by the Bush administration to distract people's attention away from the war in Iraq. Its not contageous among people. You have to be exposed to the dander of an infected bird.\n\nREALITY CHECK: Since 1998 when bird flu was discovered in Hong Kong......\n... About 100 people died from bird flu.\n... About 3,000,000 people died from regular flu.\n\nSo which flu do we need to worry about the most?
247424
It is highly unlikely. Bird flu is easily transmitted among birds and so far only transferred with difficulty among humans. The human victims have lived near chickens and so far the flu has not been transmited past one person. The concern is that the virus might change so that it is more easy for humans to catch it. If there is any suspicion that a bird may have bird flu, it is killed and being stored in a freezer after death would be likely to kill the virus.
146647
Where we are: Since 2004 some 170 humans have been infected with bird flu, with about 90 fatalities, mostly in Asia, according to the World Health Organization.\n\nBackground: With the flu spreading around the world, the virus has turned up in birds in Asia and Europe, and, most recently, Africa. So far, bird flu has only been passed from birds either to other birds or, in isolated cases, to humans. However, if the flu mutates into a strain that can pass from human to human, people will have no immunity and the flu will probably pass rapidly from person to person, creating a pandemic. Flu vaccines can only be made to protect against a particular virus, and, since the virus has yet to be passed from human to human, no vaccine can be developed.\n\nIn Asia, many people live with ducks and chickens in their homes and in their yards. Health and veterinary officials worldwide recently announced that a key way to stop the spread of the disease is to improve farming practices, segregating poultry from humans, and culling birds that have been infected with the deadly virus.\n\nWhat's next? When asked for predictions as to the seriousness of the pandemic, should one occur, experts have based their projections on a similar pandemic that occurred in 1918-1919. Up to a billion people fell ill, and nearly 100 million died worldwide. Translating to today's figures, they project that some 30-60 percent of the world's population could be infected by the virus, and over 300 million people worldwide could die. In the meantime, good hygiene remains the best prevention: keep hands well-washed, and avoid contact with people who have been infected with the virus.
1040019
Curing this flu is no easy matter, avian influenza is so deadly that it is right behind anthrax on the bio-defense list, as a possible terrorist weapon. There are two ways to try to dodge the flu. One is to kill all infected birds. The other is to develop a vaccine before the disease shifts. Because this strain requires four times the usual vaccine dosage it is impossible to produce the 600 million doses our population needs. Current supplies could provide vaccine for 15 million people; that’s only 5% of our population. Accumulated data paints such a frightening pathogenic picture that WHO issued an urgent warning that a flu pandemic could affect billions of people worldwide. Billions because, unlike our annual flu outbreaks, everyone is vulnerable, regardless of age or health. To make matters worse,in Germany, on February 26, 2006, the virus demonstrated its adaptability when a domestic cat  was found dead from  avian influenza. A few days later, an infected stone marten was discovered. This shows us that the virus is changing. Last week it was believed that 6 members of an Indonesian family had all died of avian flu, which could indicate that the virus can now spread through human to human contagion. If a pandemic does strike we will immediately lose 40% of the country's work force. President Bush got less than half of the $7.1 billion he asked for to fight this flu. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist warned Americans that state and federal authorities are "woefully underprepared" to enforce quarantine provisions and distribute medicine, food, and other vital supplies in response to an avian flu pandemic. There isn’t medical equipment or staff enough to handle this outbreak. There are pitifully few ventilators and not enough coffins or cemeteries to bury the dead.  Perhaps as many as 1.7 million Amjericans  will die as the flu cycles through our country.Bush has said he will deploy the U.S. military to enforce a quarantine on areas where infection is found. Well, that’s just ridiculous. Where will the manpower come from? \nThere really isn’t a good solution to the problem. There isn’t enough vaccine; people are going to die. Remember birds distribute the virus through their fluids and feces so watch where you step and stay clear of ducks, they are carriers of the virus but are unaffected by it.  So the best bet is to stock up on water, canned foods and Tamiflu, stay in your own home, limit visitors severely, watch over your old folks and the infants and keep them as washed up as possible, wash your own hands often and pray. But be careful what you pray for … this flu might never be a problem ... it could be some other strain of man-killer flu entirely.
98319
Kill all affected birds, human in direct contact with those birds are prone to bird flu, last 3 years 92 people are dead from bird flu and all were bird handlers.\n\nThere is no harm in eating well cooked chicken and egg.\n\nIt has not yet spead from humam to human but danger is still there.