abigail414's diaryland diary
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Public Service Announcement
We interrput this diary of a middle-aged woman to remind readers that the bird flu (aka avian influenza A virus, H5N1 virus) is 'scheduled' to arrive in the US via Alaska this spring. It will most likely move along the above migratory pathways. Most of the following information is from US Centers for Disease Control online documents:
Bird flu is primarily spread by exposure to bird feces, bird secretions, infected raw poultry meat, contaminated surfaces, or an intermediate host. In addition to birds, we know that humans, pigs, tigers, leopards, ferrets, and household cats can be infected. There have been several reported cases of cats with bird flu, most likely due to eating raw meat or infected birds. There is no evidence to date that cats can spread it to humans, nor have there been reported outbreaks among populations of cats. To date, human infections with avian influenza A viruses have not resulted in sustained human-to-human transmission, but the concern is that mutations may make this possible.
The reported symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from typical flu-like symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to eye infections (conjunctivitis), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.
Four different influenza antiviral drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment and prevention of influenza. The virus may be resistant to two of the drugs, and monitoring for resistance is ongoing.
A vaccine for humans has recently been developed that is being distributed to 'priority groups' in the UK. It's efficacy is unclear, as well as who is considered a priority group. The U.S. government is not encouraging people to wear surgical masks once bird flu arrives, but this is the same government that is suing a meat packing company that wants to test all their cows for mad cow disease (so I think I'll just follow my intuition on that one).
10:36 p.m. - 2006-03-31
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