What Causes Avian Flu?

Avian flu is a viral flu that can result in flu-like symptoms or death. Not to be treated with over-the-counter cold and flu medications, avian flu requires a prescription medication that will prevent the potentially fatal virus from spreading in the body. Learn how avian flu is transmitted to humans and how this contagious virus can be treated with proper medication.

Identification

Avian flu is a virus that is caused when humans come into contact with contaminated poultry or a person already infected with the virus. Many cases of avian flu are recorded after a person eats poultry that has not been properly cleaned or cooked. The bird as well as the cooking utensils and counter surfaces host the virus and then contaminate humans who come into contact with either.

Common Symptoms

Common symptoms of avian flu in humans are fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, eye infections and pneumonia. Other life-threatening complications may also occur, including viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, in which case the person would need to be hospitalized for treatment.

Medication

Because avian flu is caused by a strain of type A influenza, it must be treated with Tamiflu, a medication that prevents the virus from spreading within the body. When used within 48 hours of initial symptoms, the drug kills the virus's host cells and starts to eliminate or reduce symptoms in less than a week. Tamiflu is the number-one prescribed antiviral flu medicine on the market and can be prescribed to children as well as adults.

A Species-Specific Virus

According to WHO.com, avian influenza viruses are highly species-specific, but have, on rare occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans. The resulting health risks for humans are high with rapid deterioration and high fatality resulting in some cases. Primary viral pneumonia and multi-organ failure are also common. Over time, many worry that avian flu will spread more rapidly from human to human as strands of the virus grow stronger.

Considerations

According to the same website, the health care industry has growing concerns for contamination from exposure to ducks, also shown to be reservoirs for the virus. As a result, instances of the avian flu virus spreading from ducks to birds have grown. Additional studies are required as the behavior of the virus continues to change and mutate, as the exposure rate for humans, birds and ducks all increase.