H5 outbreaks in U. H7N8 in U. H7N2 in cats in U. H7N9 in Get Email Updates. To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address: Email Address. H5N8 and H5N1 bird flu have been found in some poultry, other captive birds and wild birds in the UK.
H5N6 has also been found in some wild birds in the UK but is a different strain to that seen in China. You can read the latest bird flu updates on GOV. Bird flu is spread by close contact with an infected bird dead or alive. Markets where live birds are sold can also be a source of bird flu. Avoid visiting these markets if you're travelling to countries that have had an outbreak of bird flu.
You can check health advice for the country you're visiting on the TravelHealthPro website. You can't catch bird flu through eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, even in areas with an outbreak of bird flu. If you're visiting a foreign country that's had an outbreak you should:.
It usually takes 3 to 5 days for the first symptoms to appear after you've been infected. Within days of symptoms appearing, it's possible to develop more severe complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Getting treatment quickly, using antiviral medicine, may prevent complications and reduce the risk of developing severe illness. Call a GP or NHS if you experience any symptoms of bird flu and have visited an area affected by bird flu in the past 10 days.
Contact your travel insurance company if you need advice about where to get help. If it's thought you might have symptoms of bird flu you'll be advised to stay at home, or you'll be cared for in hospital in isolation from other patients. It is lethal to poultry and is potentially fatal in humans. Bird flu spreads between both wild and domesticated birds. It has also been passed from birds to humans who are in close contact with poultry or other birds. There is no clear evidence that the virus can be transmitted from human to human.
However this may have happened in rare cases, where a person has become ill after caring for a sick family member. Scientists are concerned that the bird flu virus may combine with a human flu virus and mutate, which may make transmission between humans possible. The strain of bird flu presently affecting Asia is the H5N1 strain. There have been several bird flu outbreaks in Australia among commercial flocks of birds, all of which have been contained and eradicated.
Water birds such as wild ducks are believed to be the carriers of all avian influenza type A viruses. Migratory birds infected with the virus could potentially spread the bird flu to any of the countries they visit.
The avian influenza virus can more frequently kill domesticated birds, such as chickens and turkeys. Symptoms in birds differ according to the species but can include diarrhoea, breathing difficulties, swollen head and death. A sick bird sheds the virus in its feathers, mucous, saliva and faeces. Humans who have close contact with sick birds are at risk of infection with bird flu.
For example a person may handle a sick bird, contaminate their hands with chicken faeces, and forget to wash their hands before eating. They will then ingest the infected bird faeces. This is the most common way for a human to catch the bird flu. The virus can also survive in raw poultry meat but is destroyed during normal cooking.
There is no evidence that the current circulating H5N1 strain of bird flu can be spread easily from human to human. Although there have been too few human cases to determine the exact incubation period of bird flu, it would be expected to be from three to 10 days.
The symptoms of bird flu in humans are similar to those of regular influenza and include:. If you have recently returned from a country that had an outbreak of bird flu and you get flu symptoms, see your doctor immediately.
When making the appointment, tell the clinic staff about your travel including any visits to markets, farms or anywhere else where birds were present. Influenza viruses that infect animal species can mutate and infect humans. The human immune system may have no defences against viruses that previously only infected animals.
Health experts are concerned that the current bird flu affecting parts of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe could become a worldwide pandemic if the virus does mutate. The worst influenza pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu, which occurred in —19 and killed up to 50 million people.
Measures to contain the spread of the current bird flu virus include identifying and culling affected poultry flocks, research into tests and vaccines, and rigorous quarantine practices.
Federal and state governments have been working together to plan their response to an outbreak of bird flu. An episode of bird flu in Australia would trigger the Australian Action Plan for Pandemic Influenza, a federal government plan. Victoria also has a Pandemic Influenza Plan, which details the steps that will be used by state government agencies and health services to manage an outbreak. A separate federal government plan, the Australian Veterinary Emergency Plan , is designed to manage bird flu outbreaks among bird populations such as poultry farms.
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