What is Avian Bird Flu? What is the Symptoms of Avian Bird Flu?
What Is Avian Flu?
The Avian flu gets its name because it is typically transmitted between, affects, infects, and can be fatal to birds. "Avian flu," or "bird flu," is a collective name for a variety of viruses that occur naturally among birds. Generally carried by wild birds, the bird flu is extremely contagious among bird populations and can make domesticated birds (including chickens, ducks and turkeys) fatally ill.
It is a form of the flu (influenza) virus that usually only infects birds and sometimes infects pigs. There are many different strains of the avian flu. Some of those strains only cause mild symptoms in birds, ruffling their feathers and reducing their egg production. Other strains, including some of the H5 strains, are more dangerous - they spread quickly, cause more severe symptoms, and are almost always fatal to the birds.
Symptoms of avian flu are similar to other types of flu, including:
fever,
aching muscles,
sore throats,
runny nose,
Typical signs and symptoms of flu in adults include an abrupt onset of symptoms within 2 to 4 days of incubation of the virus. These symptoms include fever which surpasses 37.8 ° C that peaks within the first day. This will continue on for about another 4 days. Other symptoms include dry cough, headaches, chills, sweating, sore throat, myalgia, malaise and anorexia. One key differentiating factor of influenza infection from other common respiratory illnesses is that symptoms of malaise would severe and persists for several days. Other symptoms may include muscle fatigue, photophobia and other general distresses like abdominal pains and nausea. As for children, they experience relatively the same type of symptoms except that abdominal distress and myalgia appear more frequently.
The symptoms can vary from a mild disease with little or no mortality to a highly fatal, rapidly spreading epidemic (highly pathogenic avian influenza) depending on the infecting virus strain, host factors, and environmental stressors. Some of the symptoms include:
Headache.
Tiredness (can be extreme).
Dry cough.
Sore throat.
Nasal congestion.
The symptoms can come on suddenly and the infection is very aggressive. Avian flu can cause rapid deterioration, pneumonia and multiple organ failure, which can be fatal.
Diagnosis
If avian flu is suspected, diagnostic tests are used to detect the virus and identify the strain. A physical examination, blood tests, and chest x-rays also may be performed.
In a nasopharyngeal culture, a sample of secretions from the nose and throat is taken using a cotton swab, grown in a laboratory setting, and examined under a microscope for the presence of avian influenza virus. This test can be used to detect flu viruses and determine the strain; however, results of the test can take as long as 3 days.
You get the typical flu-like symptoms of high fever, headache, muscle aches, prostration; but you also get, in many of the cases, a rapidly advancing lung and pulmonary involvement where you have respiratory tract disease, difficulty breathing, and that is generally the cause of death, or a contributing cause of death among those people who’ve actually died from avian flu. So it has some of the standard flu-like symptoms, but it rapidly assumes a very fulminate course, leading to the severe illness and sometimes death of individuals.
The Avian flu gets its name because it is typically transmitted between, affects, infects, and can be fatal to birds. "Avian flu," or "bird flu," is a collective name for a variety of viruses that occur naturally among birds. Generally carried by wild birds, the bird flu is extremely contagious among bird populations and can make domesticated birds (including chickens, ducks and turkeys) fatally ill.
It is a form of the flu (influenza) virus that usually only infects birds and sometimes infects pigs. There are many different strains of the avian flu. Some of those strains only cause mild symptoms in birds, ruffling their feathers and reducing their egg production. Other strains, including some of the H5 strains, are more dangerous - they spread quickly, cause more severe symptoms, and are almost always fatal to the birds.
Symptoms of avian flu are similar to other types of flu, including:
fever,
aching muscles,
sore throats,
runny nose,
Typical signs and symptoms of flu in adults include an abrupt onset of symptoms within 2 to 4 days of incubation of the virus. These symptoms include fever which surpasses 37.8 ° C that peaks within the first day. This will continue on for about another 4 days. Other symptoms include dry cough, headaches, chills, sweating, sore throat, myalgia, malaise and anorexia. One key differentiating factor of influenza infection from other common respiratory illnesses is that symptoms of malaise would severe and persists for several days. Other symptoms may include muscle fatigue, photophobia and other general distresses like abdominal pains and nausea. As for children, they experience relatively the same type of symptoms except that abdominal distress and myalgia appear more frequently.
The symptoms can vary from a mild disease with little or no mortality to a highly fatal, rapidly spreading epidemic (highly pathogenic avian influenza) depending on the infecting virus strain, host factors, and environmental stressors. Some of the symptoms include:
Headache.
Tiredness (can be extreme).
Dry cough.
Sore throat.
Nasal congestion.
The symptoms can come on suddenly and the infection is very aggressive. Avian flu can cause rapid deterioration, pneumonia and multiple organ failure, which can be fatal.
Diagnosis
If avian flu is suspected, diagnostic tests are used to detect the virus and identify the strain. A physical examination, blood tests, and chest x-rays also may be performed.
In a nasopharyngeal culture, a sample of secretions from the nose and throat is taken using a cotton swab, grown in a laboratory setting, and examined under a microscope for the presence of avian influenza virus. This test can be used to detect flu viruses and determine the strain; however, results of the test can take as long as 3 days.
You get the typical flu-like symptoms of high fever, headache, muscle aches, prostration; but you also get, in many of the cases, a rapidly advancing lung and pulmonary involvement where you have respiratory tract disease, difficulty breathing, and that is generally the cause of death, or a contributing cause of death among those people who’ve actually died from avian flu. So it has some of the standard flu-like symptoms, but it rapidly assumes a very fulminate course, leading to the severe illness and sometimes death of individuals.