Читать книгу Vaccines For Dummies - Sharon Perkins - Страница 23

Birds can get the flu, too. They can get really sick or just a little under the weather, just like us. Sometimes they can pass the flu to us. What makes birds really sick may not make us really sick, but a flu that’s nothing for a bird may be catastrophic for us.

Many viruses don’t last when they try to infect another species, and even if they infect us, we may not be able to spread the virus to others. But there are specific subtypes that are usually found in birds that, when they cross to humans, can be quite deadly. These subtypes are commonly called bird flu or avian influenza. Bird flu, though rare, can be fatal. It’s fatal for some common types in about half of cases (H5N1 [60 percent], H7N9 [40 percent]). Fortunately, these bird flu subtypes don’t have much person-to-person spread.

Bird flu usually affects chicken farmers or persons with close contact with these birds. Fortunately, these are rarely transmitted from person to person. If there are outbreaks, farms are closed, culled, and quarantined to prevent further spread. However, bird flu can travel — either between poultry farms or with migratory birds — and different types have been found in many different countries. Our worry is that someday bird flu may spread more easily from person to person.