Bird Flu

[parrotlet_stc]

I don't know about everyone else, but bird flu (H5N1) scares the crap out of me! I'm in the US, and even though there haven't been any reportings of the bird flu here yet, I'm scared that there is a big chance it will. I'm still going to get another bird (I'll be picking up a green pacific female parrotlet in 2 weeks!), as I really do love birds, I just have so much anxiety about it. It would be horrible if my beloved pet or myself got the bird flu! I don't really have any questions, I just wanted to relieve my anxiety somewhere, as Zoloft doesn't work too well. Is anyone else freaking out about bird flu?

[candi4me]

I try not to think about it or I would scare myself into never leaving my house. I wouldn't even know what the symptoms are. candy

[birdsnthings]

The bird flu will probably be brought in by migratory birds. As long as your bird isn't around the wild ones that could be infected there isn't a problem. As far as continuing to eat chicken? The temperature in the cooking destroys the virus so don't go and order one of those banbirdflu cd's unless you really desire to become a terrorist.
Alice

[Alyce Johnson]

If you're concerned, I would advise that you keep your birds at home - don't take them to big bird shows, or let them hang out in the yard with wild birds. That's just a common sense policy that you should already be following, probably, IMO.

Eventually the *bird* version of bird flu may come here to the US - just as human flu strains move around the globe over time, the animal varieties tend to travel as well. But it will affect wild birds, not captive ones, unless your bird is somehow exposed to what the wild birds are carrying (say, by bird poop being tracked into the house on your shoes).

So far, it's not here yet. But you may want to think about what you might do to keep your birds safe inside your home, should it arrive. Such as taking off your shoes on your front porch, for example, and maybe taking down any feeders you have in your yard to attract wild birds, draining your pond or outside water garden etc to discourage water fowl (migratory types) from visiting - stuff like that.

Remember that the matter of a *human* mutation of "bird flu" is a *totally* separate thing. That's the possibility that all the pandemic scenarios are built on. It could happen, sure. But it hasn't happened, yet. So far, the flu that actually does exist is contagious bird to bird. People only get it after extensive exposure - and they rarely get it even then. Remember that literally millions of folks have *had* exposure and have *not* gotten sick.

Even if you do catch it, you must catch it directly from infected birds.
It does not currently pass from person to person, so far as we know.

Could such a deadly, person-to-person contagious mutation arise? Sure, it could happen. Human plagues do happen from time to time. (Ebola and AIDS are two good examples.) This virus, which is currently only contagious between birds is *similar* to the one that mutated to produce the 1918 human flu pandemic.

But that type of mutation hasn't taken place yet, with this virus. It may never happen at all. It may remain only a bird to bird bug. It could also just as easily happen that this very virus does mutate to infect people - but is *not* particularly deadly at all, after it mutates. Nobody can predict *how* it will mutate, if it even *does* mutate to infect people.

Every (human) flu season is different. And each year, it's a new mutation that we are dealing with. (That's why you need a new shot, every year.) New mutations of the human flu virus pretty much happen all the time. They are not all equally deadly. In fact, they are rarely especially deadly. In the meantime, you're way more at risk driving on the freeway. So, I'd say, don't worry yet. Take sensible precautions, but don't worry.

[tielfan]

Bird flu has been around for thousands of years, and it has been carried worldwide by migratory birds in every single one of those years. Most of the time it doesn't cause any problems for humans.

It's primarily a disease of poultry-type birds. It's very effective at killing chickens but doesn't bother ducks and geese that much which is why the wild flocks are so good at spreading it. It may or may not affect other bird species and may or may not mutate into a form that can be spread by human to human contact. If it does that, the new strain may be more dangerous or less dangerous than the one that's currently affecting birds.

The 1918 pandemic may or may not have started out as an avian virus. I've also heard that it was swine flu, and some of us are old enough to remember a big panic about that in the 70s that turned out to be much ado about nothing. The Asian flu in 1957 and the Hong Kong flu in 1968 both started out as avian flu. They were serious but didn't come remotely close to threatening the existence of the human race.

It's inevitable that there will be flu epidemics in the future because that's just the way nature works, and society needs to be prepared for it. But if you ask me, about 98% of the current uproar is a combination of irresponsible politicians trying to distract us away from the REAL problems, and the irresponsible media looking for a sensational story to sell their product.

[bekfreak]

You mean my plastic and duct tape is useless?! Darn and I guess I should put the gas mask on ebay!

[birdsnthings]

Thanks for the help on this one. I couldn't remember all that I read on it so far to put into words.
Now the only people we need to be concerned with are the non-bird people.
Some would believe all birds are affected.
Alice

[TooLover]

Originally Posted by birdsnthings

Thanks for the help on this one. I couldn't remember all that I read on it so far to put into words.
Now the only people we need to be concerned with are the non-bird people.
Some would believe all birds are affected.
Alice

Including my sister who is so worried, she frightens me with her hysteria sometimes!

[Alyce Johnson]

Plastic (think shower curtain liners) & duct tape are not bad ideas. Neither, frankly, is the gas mask.
I don't stock any of those but the duct tape...but I wouldn't be too quick to laugh at anyone who did.
Ask an Israeli about whether a gas mask is a useful thing to own, before you laugh too fast.

Hopefully 9-11 taught us not to think we are immune to the same problems the rest of the world is having.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at any of those things, personally. But my reasons surely wouldn't be bird flu...

My first husband converted to a rather radical branch of Islam, about a decade ago. At that time, nobody thought terrorism on American soil could ever happen. I met the folks he was involved with. It precipitated an almost immediate divorce. I tried to tell some of my friends afterwards that something on the order of 9-11 was a genuine possibility. People thought I was bitter at my ex & didn't listen for an instant.

Hopefully, Americans as a group are more realistic, now. But sometimes I wonder.

I don't go in for hysteria. ...But neither do I laugh at pessimism, or disaster preparedness, either.
Were you (hypothetically) to prepare for a serious person-to-person bird flu epidemic, you'd be well prepared for about anything that might happen. And you could always tell the inlaws you were "just worried about the birds".
JMO & just a thought...