How Does the Bird Flu Spread?

Avian influenza, also known as the bird flu, is a virus that mainly affects birds. However, the virus has the ability to mutate quickly, and some strains have evolved to spread to human beings. The first such strain to affect humans, H5N1, was discovered in Hong Kong in 1997. To avoid being infected it is necessary to know how it spreads.

• The bird flu is an airborn virus that primarily affects birds but has mutated to infect humans. Humans do not currently have an immunity to this virus and while it does not spread to humans easily as of yet, in the future it carries the potential for a worldwide epidemic, or pandemic. 


• While human to human infection is difficult, it is not impossible. In Thailand, an entire family was infected in 2004, but the virus was not known to have spread to anyone else who had contact with that family.


• Farmers and others who handle birds, including food poultry and other avian creatures, are at the highest risk for catching the bird flu. It can also be spread if someone touches dead or sick birds, or any bird that isn't their pet.


• People who consume undercooked poultry or who handle the animals' blood may also catch the bird flu. Eating eggs from infected birds could also spread the disease.


• The virus can survive for extended periods of time on various surfaces. People who touch bird feces can also catch the avian flu.


• Workers in the health care field and family members run the risk of catching the bird flu from an infected person. This is due to their close proximity and the ability of the virus to spread by various mean such as coughing.