Avian influenza is far more serious than other viruses. Only 2% of people who get the common flu die, while over half of all people who have contracted H5N1 bird flu have died.

As birds migrate, so does H5N1

As birds increasingly become infected with avian influenza in various parts of the world, the likelihood of humans becoming infected increases -- particularly if they have close contact with a bird’s bodily fluids.

Hospitals in Asia, Europe, and Africa have all reported cases of bird flu. It seems only a matter of time before infected birds migrate to North America, South America, and Australia.

When that happens, the correct diagnosis and treatment of avian influenza will be imperative. Although the H5N1 strain of bird flu can be transmitted from birds to humans, the greater concern is that it might spread from humans to humans. This would cause an unprecedented global pandemic.

Recognize the symptoms

With that in mind, it’s important to know the symptoms of avian influenza. With a current human mortality rate of about 50%, it’s best to know what to look for when you or someone you know comes down with bird flu.

Diagnosis of avian influenza is difficult due to the fact that it closely resembles the common flu that many people experience during a typical cold and flu season. Symptoms include:

• Sore throat
• Fever
• Coughing
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

There are, however, a few additional symptoms someone infected with H5N1 may experience, such as:

• Eye infection
• Severe shortness of breath
• Pain in the lungs
• Difficulty breathing
  
• Bleeding from the nose and/or gums

Recovery is dependent on treating the patient in time, so ill people need to see their doctor as quickly as possible.

Testing
There are three categories of rapid diagnostic testing:

(1) "Near patient tests" are already used to diagnosis the flu, and results are available after about 30 minutes. The accuracy rate is only 70% to 75%.

(2) Laboratory antigen detection tests require a lab and are also not 100% accurate.

(3) Nucleic acid amplification tests take about four hours to process and are highly accurate, but require expensive equipment not available at every healthcare facility -- especially not in poor regions of the world.

If any of these tests come back positive, your healthcare facility should send the sample on to the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Treatment

A typical influenza A strain infection is usually treated with antiviral drugs such as amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir, or zanamivir. Since bird flu isn’t like the typical flu, different drugs are required to treat it. There are two common drugs used to treat bird flu:

Tamiflu: Also known as Oseltamivir, this drug decreases the severity of the symptoms and reduces shedding of the virus, which helps limit its spread. Tamiflu must be taken orally within 48 hours of the beginning of symptoms to do any good.

Relenza: This antiviral flu treatment also must be taken within 48 hours of the first sign of symptoms to do any good. Relenza comes in inhaler form.

Both drugs are already in short supply throughout the world and taking them within 48 hours may not be possible in many parts of the world.

Some bird flu strains are resistant to standard influenza antiviral drugs. Strains of the virus are already showing resistance to Tamiflu in Southeast Asia.

One of the H5N1 virus strains tested in China was completely unaffected by both amantidine and rimantadine. As a result, the CDC has recommended that neither of these medications be used in the treatment of an H5N1 infection.

Vaccine protection

Bird flu vaccines are currently being invented and tested, but so far no concrete evidence exists to show that these vaccines work in protecting people from the disease. With that in mind, it’s all the more important that people who fall ill see their doctor as soon as possible.

Some scientists believe that the use of micronutrients could possibly treat or even help prevent the avian flu. According to Dr. Matthais Rath the secretion of some of the substances that the flu virus uses to replicate or multiply its RNA may be inhibited by the use of micronutrients including Vitamin C and Green Tea Extract which may also limit the spread by curbing enzymatic degradation of extracellular surroundings.

FAO: Avian Influenza Special Report

Avian influenza (AI) has been recognised as a highly lethal generalised viral disease of poultry since 1901. In 1955, a specific type of influenza virus was identified as the causal agent of what was then called fowl plague. It has since been found that AI viruses cause a wide range of disease syndromes, ranging from severe to mild, in domestic poultry.