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Q. What is "bird flu?"
A. "Bird flu" is the common name for avian influenza, a respiratory disease of
birds that is caused by a virus.
Q. How serious is it?
A. There are several different types of avian influenza. The milder forms occur
occasionally around the world. These are known as Low Pathogenic Avian
Influenza or LPAI. The more serious form is known as Highly Pathogenic Avian
Influenza (HPAI) because the disease is much more severe in birds, and it
results in high mortality in poultry flocks. The type now occurring in
Southeast Asia is specifically called H5N1 HPAI. The designation of H5N1 comes
from the arrangement of the proteins on the surface of the virus that causes
the disease.
Q. Can humans get H5N1 HPAI?
A. Unfortunately, yes. A small number of people in Southeast Asia have developed
a human form of the disease, nearly all of them from direct contact with live,
infected poultry.
Q. What are humans doing in contact with infected, live birds?
A. Chickens, ducks and other poultry in Southeast Asia are often allowed to run
at large in the villages in which people live. Children and other family
members tend small flocks of birds to provide eggs and meat. Nearly all of the
human cases in Thailand and Vietnam are associated with these types of "village
chickens."
Q. Can human infection be prevented?
A. It is apparently very easy to prevent human infection from live animals
because millions of chickens, ducks and other birds have been culled by
soldiers and other workers with no ill effects. There are no cases in which
human infection is believed to have resulted from handling poultry meat.
Q. Can humans get avian influenza from other humans?
A. It is apparently possible for a human to acquire the H5N1 HPAI virus from
another human if there is extremely close contact. However, scientists say that
the virus has not yet developed the ability to pass easily from human to human,
and human-to-human transmission is extremely rare.
Q. How can human-to-human transmission be prevented?
A. People taking care of persons who have H5N1 HPAI should practice normal
hygienic precautions. On a broader level, it is important to deny the virus the
opportunity to change and evolve. This is done by stamping it out when it
occurs. Both Thailand and Vietnam have aggressively destroyed poultry flocks
infected with H5N1 HPAI. Experts have said that these countries should
discourage the type of loose poultry husbandry that has led to the outbreaks.
Q. Can you get any type of avian influenza by eating chicken, turkey or
other poultry products?
A. There is no danger of acquiring avian influenza from normally and properly
cooked food. Avian influenza is caused by a virus. Like all types of viruses,
avian influenza is destroyed by the heat of normal cooking.
Q. What about handling meat from an infected chicken or turkey?
A. No chickens or turkeys known or suspected to be infected with avian influenza
are processed for sale as raw meat in the United States. Washing the hands
after handling raw poultry is always a good precaution, but consumers in the
United States have virtually no chance of encountering meat from a chicken or
turkey infected with avian influenza. More importantly, by all accounts, the
USA does not currently have the H5N1 HPAI and does not import poultry from the
affected Asian countries.
Q. Are all types of avian influenza equally dangerous?
A. Only the H5 and H7 types are known to be able to change from the
low-pathogenic form to the highly pathogenic form, so these are the types of
greatest concern. Only a few specific avian influenza viruses have been shown
to infect humans, and even those infections have been rare. Most of the human
cases worldwide have been caused by H5N1 HPAI in Asia and H7N7 in The
Netherlands. Some types of avian influenza are so mild that a blood test is
needed to confirm that it is present.
Q. Do we have avian influenza in the United States?
A. We have never had an outbreak of Asian-type H5N1 highly pathogenic avian
influenza in the United States, and we do not have any cases now. We had
low-pathogenic avian influenza as recently as 2004. The H5N2 outbreak in one
flock was designated as highly pathogenic on the basis of a laboratory test,
but a more definitive test failed to confirm high pathogenicity. The last
confirmed outbreak of H5N2 (not H5N1) highly pathogenic avian influenza in the
United States was in Pennsylvania in 1983 and 1984. No known human illness or
infections resulted from the outbreak.
Q. What happens when there is an outbreak of AI in the United States?
A. The policy of the poultry industry and the government is to eradicate the
disease as quickly as possible by destroying any flocks in which the H5 or H7
types of virus are found. The animals are all destroyed and disposed of through
environmentally sound methods.
Q. Why is it necessary to destroy all the birds in an infected flock?
A. Like all other living things, viruses continue to change and evolve. It is
possible that the viruses that cause mild avian influenza could evolve into a
more pathogenic form. This is apparently what happened in Pennsylvania in 1983
and 1984, when a low-pathogenic strain turned into a highly pathogenic strain.
Flocks are destroyed to prevent the virus from evolving and spreading.
Q. What is done to protect people in the event of an outbreak?
A. The people involved in destroying flocks wear gloves, masks and protective
clothing. Anyone who develops respiratory symptoms reports to a doctor to be
checked out. People who have no reason to be on a farm involved in the outbreak
are kept away.
Q. What is done to protect healthy animals and prevent the spread of
disease?
A. Poultry companies and farmers practice strict biosecurity at all times and it
is heightened during any outbreak of avian influenza. The trucks carrying feed
are hosed down, personnel wear protective clothing and plastic boots and go
through footbaths, farmers stay away from community gatherings, and farmers
generally keep their farms locked down until the problem has passed. The
eradication efforts in Virginia, Delaware and Texas in recent years resembled
military operations in their scope and precision.
Q. How is Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza being kept out of the
United States?
A. The United States has multiple lines of defense against Asian H5N1 HPAI:
Transmission from live animals: The importation of birds or bird products from
the affected area has been banned or placed under strict control by the U.S.
government.
Transmission from poultry products: None of the affected countries in Southeast
Asia are permitted to export poultry products to the United States. (Virtually
all of the chicken and turkey sold in the United States is produced in the
United States. The U.S. is a large poultry exporter and imports very little
poultry.)
Transmission via human beings: The virus has not yet developed the ability to
pass easily from human to human. If it does so, that will be considered a
public health emergency and appropriate steps will be taken, presumably
including restrictions on travel from the affected areas. It is possible that
infected humans could bring the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza from
Southeast Asia to the United States. However, no one who has been to the
affected areas in Southeast Asia will be allowed to set foot on a poultry farm
in the United States. In addition, President Bush has taken the precaution of
adding this type of avian influenza to the list of diseases for which a person
can be quarantined while attempting to enter the United States.
Q. Are controls in place within the United States?
Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza is the form of the disease that is
of the greatest concern. However, other forms do exist and are considered a
long-term threat to the poultry industry. The U.S. Congress has appropriated
$23 million to U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin to implement a
long-term, domestic avian influenza control program. The Bush administration
has asked Congress to maintain that funding for 2006.
Q. Is it true that the type of intensive animal production practiced in the
United States contributes to the development of avian influenza?
A. The modern type of animal production used in the United States is actually
more protective of birds and their health than more traditional systems. In the
United States, chickens and turkeys are usually raised in enclosed buildings
called grow-out houses. More than 20,000 chickens or 4,000 turkeys are placed
in a single building. Yet the health of the poultry flocks today is probably
better than it has ever been. This is because of improvements in poultry
housing, selective breeding for disease resistance, protection from potential
disease carriers such as wild birds and continuous health oversight by poultry
veterinarians. In contrast, the "village chickens" in Southeast Asia are raised
in the traditional manner that has changed little in hundreds of years. They
are fully exposed to the environment and to potential disease carriers, and
they have minimal or no access to veterinary medical care.
These questions and answers were provided by the National Chicken Council and
the National Turkey Federation. For more information about avian influenza and
what's being done to keep your food safe, please visit
www.avianinfluenzainfo.com.
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