By Luis Ramirez
Laptop Battery A laboratory in China says it has discovered a deadly strain of the bird flu in pigs, raising concern that the virus may be closer to changing into a form that is more easily transmittable to humans.
1. What is bird flu Avian influenza, or bird flu, is a contagious disease that affects chickens, ducks, turkeys, and other birds. Bird flu was first detected over 100 years ago and nowadays comes in a variety of about 20 strains. Most recently, outbreaks of the viral disease have been caused by the H5N1 strain, which is a particularly deadly strain of the virus. 2. Can I be infected with bird flu The H5N1 strain of the flu, also called the Asian bird flu because it recently was detected in Asia, has a small risk level for human beings because it cannot be transmitted from one human being to another. A human being can only be infected from direct contact with a sick animal. It is possible that this could change and that the strain could evolve into a virus that can be transferred from one human to another. But this is not the case now.
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Influenza News Three Swans Dead Due to Bird Flu in Dorset, UK Jan 29, Posted in Influenza The first case of bird flu virus in the UK was recorded in April 2006 in Scotland. Extensive control was taken up at that time. A new case of bird flu in the UK was reported, as three wild swans in Dorset died due to the avian virus strain and a fourth one was tested positive......
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States that have been particularly hard hit this season include California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Nevada and Kansas. Tamiflu targets the most common influenza strains, types A and B. Roche temporarily halted some Tamiflu shipments to the United States during the fall, when consumers fearful of a bird flu pandemic hoarded the drug. Tamiflu has shown some promise for treating people infected with the H5N1 bird flu strain, but it has not been approved for that use.
Laptop Computers Aug 20, 2004 (AXcess News) Beijing - A laboratory in China says it has discovered a deadly strain of the bird flu in pigs, raising concern among scientists that the virus may be closer to changing into a form that is more easily transmittable to humans.
or "bird flu", is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. While all bird species are thought to be susceptible to infection, domestic poultry flocks are especially vulnerable to infections that can rapidly reach epidemic proportions. December 2003, a growing number of Asian countries have reported outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in chickens and ducks. Infections in several species of wild birds and in pigs have also been reported.
Laptop Computer World Health Organization, WHO, officials were quick to caution against any panic over the revelations Friday by Chen Hualan, a bird flu researcher at China's Harbin Institute of Veterinary Medicine.
3. Is there a treatment for bird flu Professionals currently researching the Avian bird flu claim that rimantidine and amantidine, two cheap and popular flu drugs, have no power over the bird flu, but Relenza and Tamiflu, two other flu drugs, can indeed effectively treat the viral disease. 4. Is there a risk of a bird flu epidemic Experts in this area suggest that rapid and extensive culling and quarantining of potentially infected animals is the best way to prevent an epidemic. Another option is vaccination of birds against the bird flu virus.
Desktop Computer Ms. Chen told participants at a Beijing conference on bird flu that the H5N1 virus has been found on pig farms in China over the past two years. Her comments raise concerns that the virus, which has struck mainly chickens and other poultry, may have changed enough to easily make the jump to mammals.
Notebooks World Health Organization officials, however, say not enough information is available to prompt worry that humans may soon be easily infected. Roy Wadia with the WHO office in Beijing says, while pigs can serve as sort of mixing vessels, in which viruses can become passable to humans, there is no indication that all of the elements for this to happen with H5N1 are present.
Lenovo "A pig must be infected by both human and bird flu strains at the same time for this to actually happen, and that can occur just by a chance," he noted. "Such a chance is really small, unless a strain is widely circulating in pigs, in other words, pig-to-pig transmission, and we don't know if that's happened yet."AdvertisementChinese officials did not say where the pigs were infected or how many had been.
Hard Drive H5N1 is the first avian flu virus known to jump directly from birds to people. Most flu viruses are thought to move from birds to pigs or other mammals before spreading to humans. The first outbreak occurred in 1997 in Hong Kong, and six people died.
Travelstar An outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu devastated the poultry industry in a number of Asian countries earlier this year, but its spread among humans was limited. Twenty-seven people have died in Thailand and Vietnam after catching the virus. The victims reportedly had all been in contact with infected birds.
Gateway Malaysia this week went on a nationwide alert after the virus was found in poultry near the border with Thailand. Officials in Thailand on Friday said the virus had been discovered in ducks, prompting them to cull thousands in an effort to stop the outbreak.WHO officials on Friday said that, while there is no information now to suggest the disease can easily spread to humans, it is important for nations to be prepared to deal with a possible outbreak.
Laptop Parts Source: Voice of America
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