ChatterBank6 mins ago
Bird Flu
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No best answer has yet been selected by Homer55. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Blown out of proportion like the SARS virus?
I can't believe you said that - Hundreds died! none in Britain but you woundn't want to go around Toronto saying that.
The UN's WHO managed to co-ordinate a worldwide response that otherwise could have been tens of millions.
Unlike SARS chicken flu can only be transmitted via animal faeces and I am very dubious about the probability of mutation into a human-human transmissible form
SARS was very very scary chicken flu will only be that scary if we see a mutation - I wouldn't lie awake worrying about it unless of course you're Bernard Matthews! :c)
Am conducting research on virus strains similar to the so called "bird flu" so may be able to shed some light on it. At present, the virus is nothing to worry about. It is a virus who's DNA enables it to infect birds. As the physiology and immunology of humans is so different from birds it is unlikely that humans will contract the infection, hence why only people who are working with infected birds in very close proximity will get it. However, it is possible for the virus to become infective if it mutates and aquires the genes to allow it to infect humans. This was what happened in 1918 with Spanish Flu which originally started as a bird flu. So, for the time being there is nothing to really worry about as it is not a problem at the moment. In all likelyhood it should remain in birds. But in the event that it does cross to humans, just treat it like you would an outbreak of cold would be my advice, no need to panic.
Jaq
My understanding is that some pathology samples from 1918 were recoverred to show that this was a bird flu.
Is there actually evidence to show that this started as a different strain in birds and then mutated?
This is rather crucial as the key question is the probability of this mutation happening.