BIRD FLU: More lethal than 10 Hydrogen bombs
Author: markw // Category: H5N1 Bird Flu, Health
Photo Tommy Mac
AVIAN Influenza, another name for bird flu is fundamentally a disease of birds caused by a variety of strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host, particularly in water fowl. The H5N1 strain of influenza - often referred to as bird flu - is first known to have jumped from chickens to humans in 1997. Since 2004 it has ripped through poultry and wild bird populations across Eurasia, and had a 53% mortality rate in the first 147 people it is known to have infected.
Health authorities fear this strain, or its descendent, could cause a lethal new flu pandemic in people with the potential to kill billions after the virus responsible for causing the disease jumped the specie-barrier to infect humans. Experts fear the nature of the disease could be more lethal than ten hydrogen bombs after causing a pandemic. Of the 382 human cases reported so far the world over, 241 have been devoured by the deadly disease. More
Tags: avian-influenza, bird flu, H5N1
