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What is difference between "bird flu," avian influenza, and pandemic human influenza?
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"Bird flu" is the common name for a severe form of avian influenza, a disease of birds that is caused by a virus. It is technically called H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Human beings do not normally catch influenza from birds. Some scientists are afraid that H5N1 HPAI could turn into a disease that could spread easily among humans, but this has not yet occurred and some doubt that it ever will.
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Can humans get bird flu now?
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Unfortunately, yes. About 200 people, most of them in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, or China, have developed a human form of the disease, typically from direct contact with infected birds among the poultry flocks that live and roam freely in rural villages.
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How can human infection be prevented?
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There are no known cases in which human infection is believed to have resulted from handling poultry meat or eating cooked poultry. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC): "You cannot get avian influenza from properly handled and cooked poultry and eggs. There currently is no scientific evidence that people have been infected with bird flu by eating safely handled and properly cooked poultry or eggs... Even if poultry and eggs were to be contaminated with the virus, proper cooking would kill it. In fact, recent studies have shown that the cooking methods that are already recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for poultry and eggs to prevent other infections will destroy influenza viruses as well." Instructions for safe handling and cooking are printed on every package of chicken and turkey sold in the United States.
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Can you get any type of avian influenza by eating chicken, turkey or other poultry products?
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There is no danger of acquiring avian influenza from normally and properly cooked food. Avian influenza is caused by a virus. Like all types of viruses, avian influenza is destroyed by the heat of normal cooking.
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What about handling meat from an infected chicken or turkey?
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No chickens or turkeys known or suspected to be infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza are processed for sale as raw meat in the United States. Washing the hands after handling raw poultry is always a good precaution, but consumers in the United States have virtually no chance of encountering meat from a chicken or turkey infected with avian influenza.
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Do we have avian influenza in the United States?
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As of the spring of 2006, we have never had an outbreak of Asian-type H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States. We have had mild or low-pathogenic avian influenza, most recently in 2004. The H5N2 outbreak in one flock was designated as highly pathogenic on the basis of a laboratory test, but a more definitive test failed to confirm high pathogenicity. The last confirmed outbreak of HPAI in the United States was an H5N2 (not H5N1) in Pennsylvania in 1983 and 1984. No known human illness or infections resulted from the outbreak.
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What would be the significance of a finding of H5N1 in wild birds?
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The U.S. government is sampling wild birds in Alaska and other areas to look for H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza. The government expects to announce any detection of H5N1 even before the level of pathogenicity is determined and before it is determined if the strain is the Asian one. Therefore, an initial detection of H5N1 could turn out to be a low pathogenic, North American variety that has nothing to do with Asian avian influenza. Even if it is the Asian variety, there is no immediate threat to commercial poultry production because of the geographical separation of migratory bird areas and commercial production areas, and because commercial flocks are kept in sheltered environments.
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What happens when there is an outbreak of highly pathogenic AI in commercial flocks?
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The policy of the industry and the government is to eradicate the disease as quickly as possible by destroying any flocks in which highly pathogenic AI is found. The animals are all destroyed and disposed of through environmentally sound methods.
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What is done to protect people in the event of an outbreak?
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The people involved in destroying flocks wear gloves, masks and protective clothing. People who have no reason to be on a farm involved in the outbreak are kept away.
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What is done to protect healthy animals and prevent the spread of disease?
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Poultry companies and farmers practice strict "biosecurity" at all times, and it is heightened during any outbreak of avian influenza. The trucks carrying feed are hosed down, personnel wear protective clothing and plastic boots and go through footbaths, farmers stay away from community gatherings, and farmers generally keep their farms locked down until the problem has passed.
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How is Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza being kept out of the United States?
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The United States has multiple lines of defense against Asian H5N1 HPAI:
Wild bird monitoring: The U.S. government, working with the state and regional Flyway Councils, has an extensive program of monitoring migratory wild birds to spot Asian bird flu before it reaches commercial flocks. Thousands of samples are being taken in Alaska, where it is believed that migratory North American birds may commingle with birds that spend their winters in Asia. The monitoring program is intended to give early warning of any incursion of the virus into North America via migratory birds.
Transmission from live animals: The importation of birds or bird products from the affected area has been banned by the U.S. government.
Transmission from poultry products: The United States has never imported poultry from Southeast Asia, and the government has banned imports from other affected regions. In fact, the United States is a large poultry exporter and imports very little poultry.
Transmission via human beings: The virus has not yet developed the ability to pass easily from human to human. If it does so, that will be considered a public health emergency and appropriate steps will be taken.
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Are commercial poultry flocks tested for avian influenza?
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Yes. State governments and the industry have extensive monitoring, surveillance and testing programs.
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Does intensive animal production as practiced in the United States contribute to the development of avian influenza?
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The modern type of animal production used in the United States is actually more protective of birds and their health than more traditional systems. In the United States, chickens and turkeys are usually raised in enclosed buildings called growout houses. More than 20,000 chickens or 4,000 turkeys are placed in a single building. Yet the health of the poultry flocks today is probably better than it has ever been. This is because of improvements in poultry housing, selective breeding for disease resistance, protection from potential disease carriers such as wild birds and continuous health oversight by poultry veterinarians. In contrast, the "village chickens" in Southeast Asia are raised in the traditional manner that has changed little in hundreds of years. They are fully exposed to the environment and to potential disease carriers, and they have minimal or no access to veterinary medical care.
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Are "free-range" poultry in the United States at risk of getting avian influenza?
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In "free-range" systems in the United States, chickens or turkeys are raised in production houses but have access to a fenced area just outside — a pen. Chickens or turkeys are not actually allowed to cover a large area but are kept within the pen, and there is nothing in the pen to attract wild birds. If there is any threat in the environment, the chickens or turkeys can always be brought indoors. Most producers feel that a conventional operation, in which chickens or turkeys are kept inside all the time, is easier to manage from the biosecurity of view, but the risk of "free-range" birds getting avian influenza is generally believed to be low.
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