WHAT DOES AVIAN FLU HAVE TO DO WITH HUMAN HEALTH?

Rarely is an avian flu transmitted from birds to other kinds of animals. But the new Asian strain has infected more than 250 people, mostly in Southeast Asia.

Almost all of them caught it directly from domestic poultry. More than 50 percent have died—a very high mortality rate for any flu. By comparison, a few million Americans get the “normal” flu every winter, and an average of 36,000 die each year.
In nearly every case studied, people infected with the Asian bird flu have lived and worked in close contact with domestic poultry where they shared the same air, soil, and water. This degree of exposure is highly unusual in developed countries where poultry are generally raised in large sanitary “factories.”

There have been at least three instances where the virus has been transferred from human to human within families. But even though in its present form the virus infects humans only with difficulty, additional mutations could allow it to spread more easily from human to human, eventually becoming widespread in people.
This situation would be called a pandemic.Even if such a genetic change were to occur, the mutated virus might be less virulent in people in its new form.
Or, it could be just as deadly as the current form, and that’s why human health authorities are so concerned. They must prepare for the worst-case scenario because the consequences of failing to do so could be severe.

That’s why we see bird flu in the news so much. International agreements have dedicated several billion dollars to everything from vaccine development to trade restrictions and surveillance of wild birds. These actions carry significant political and economic implications and are thus big news.