The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed H9N2 Bird Flu case from West Bengal on June 10 🦠. According to various reports, a 4-year-old girl from West Bengal was admitted to a local hospital in February with symptoms including severe respiratory issues, high fever, and abdominal cramps 🤒. The girl remained admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital 🏥 for three months.
As per doctors the girl recovered and was discharged from the hospital after diagnosis of H9N2 Avian Influenza virus 🦠. In India since 2019, this incident is the second human infection with an H9N2 strain of bird flu. The patient has no family history of respiratory illness or immediate contacts. However, the girl has been exposed to poultry at home and in his surroundings 🐔.
According to the WHO, the infection can cause minor illness if detected and treated immediately 🩺. But further sporadic human cases can emerge as the avian influenza viruses are the most common information spreading in Poultry across different regions 🌍. In the blog post, we will highlight vital information about the Bird Flue information. Continue reading 📖.
What is the Bird Flu Infection?
Bird Flu is also known as Avian influenza a viral infection that spreads in poultry birds like chickens, geese, ducks 🦆, and others. The viral infection usually appears in birds but can transfer to humans and the human variant is called Influenza A(H5N1) 🦠. The viral flu can cause respiratory-related complications and fever 🤒. Exposure to poultry, geese, ducks, and other livestock is a primary cause for humans to catch this flu.
Hong Kong was the first place to report the first H9N2 cases in humans in 1992. The bird flu infection is common in different regions like Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The person-to-person spread of this infection is very rare and usually spreads from birds to humans. Health experts declare the outbreak of bird flu when a large number of birds and other animals get infected by influenza 🐔.
How Does Bird Flu Spread?
Bird flu as mentioned above is a kind of Avian influenza and is commonly known as bird flu. As the name suggests this type of flu spreads in birds including wild birds and domestic poultry birds such as chickens, geese, and ducks. Generally, bird flu spreads through the migration of wild birds from one region to another 🌍. When infected wild birds travel from one region to another they carry the virus along and transmit it to domestic birds 🦆.
The common symptoms of Bird flu in domestic birds are diarrhea, breathing difficulties, and death. Spread of bird flu from birds to humans is very rare but can occur on a few occasions if a person comes in close contact with an infected bird. Infected birds shred the virus through feathers, mucous, saliva, and faeces.
Humans working with poultry can get infected and symptoms include respiratory-related complications, fever, 🤒 and diarrhea. A human case of bird flu is known as H5N1 flu and can be treated easily after diagnosis.
Can Humans Catch Bird Flu and How?
The first thing to remember is bird flu spreads from birds to birds and in rare cases to humans 🦠. As of now, there is no clear data or information on how bird flu spreads to humans but the most common cause is believed the immediate contact of humans with infected birds usually domestic poultry birds🐔.
When transmitted to humans, the flu is known as influenza A virus, often H5N1 in humans. As per studies and research the cause of the spread from birds to humans is the close contact of humans with infected birds, their feces (poo), or feathers 🪶.
Bird flu can occur in both domestic and wild birds 🐦. It is believed that wild birds or migrator birds are the primary carriers of this virus. Migratory birds travel to different regions and can carry the virus along 🌍. Migratory birds usually don’t show the symptoms of this virus however, the spread can kill domesticated birds, such as chickens and turkeys.
Once domestic birds are infected with this flu, they may show symptoms like diarrhea, breathing difficulties, and death 🦠. Infected birds generally sherd the virus on their feathers, mucous, saliva, and faeces. Humans mostly are not prone to get affected due to bird flu, rarely a person in close contact with the infected birds may get affected.
The virus can enter into human body through various sources such as the eyes, nose, or mouth, or is inhaled. Experts have ruled out the possibility of catching this virus by eating fully cooked poultry or eggs even in areas affected by the bird flu 🍗. Bird flu is divided into different strains known as highly pathogenic and low pathogenic depending upon the symptoms and severity.
How to test for bird flu in humans?
The proper treatment for bird flu infection is done after clinical tests as the infection can’t be detected or treated by common clinical diagnosis. To test bird flu infection in humans usually, the swab is collected for testing during the first phase of the illness. The swab gets checked under laboratory settings for detecting Avian Influenza A.
The test is done in two ways, by growing the virus or by a molecular test 🧪. Detecting the virus in patients who don’t recover fully is difficult and for critically ill patients swab collection of the lower respiratory tract can prove productive 🧫.
There is another way to test and detect the bird flu in humans and that is observing and monitoring the growth of antibodies in the human body in response to the virus. Doctors can also advise an X-ray for patients with respiratory complications 🩺.
An x-ray can also prove beneficial to detect and treat the flu effectively depending on symptoms and the severity 🦠. Furthermore, to ensure accuracy in test results, a swab should be collected within 3 days of the symptoms appearing. Understanding the test results for bird flu is easy as the results are shown as negative and positive respectively for the infection.
Symptoms of Bird Flu in Humans
The symptoms of bird flu in humans are generally complications in the respiratory system, fever, sore throat, and diarrhea 🤒. However, symptoms can vary from individual to individual and depend on the response of the immune system to the virus.
The commonly observed symptoms of bird flu in humans are fever, cough, and sore throat 🤧. Infected persons may also experience muscle aches and conjunctivitis eye infections 👁️. If a person is severely infected, the symptoms may include breathing problems, pneumonia, and severe respiratory diseases. Furthermore, the severity of symptoms depends on the type of virus that causes the infection as bird flu contains several viruses.
Doctors usually recommend antiviral drugs for the treatment of infection caused by the bird flu 💊. Drugs including oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza), and peramivir are some of the known medicines to treat the Avian Flu or the H5N1 virus 💉. Health experts may also suggest the Avian Influenza vaccine to treat the infection.
However, prevention is the best way to prevent this infection 🛡️. People working in the poultry sector or those in close contact with birds can take antiviral drugs as a precautionary measure when there is an outbreak of bird flu in any region 🐔.
