French authorities say the H5 bird flu virus strain has been found among infected birds in a turkey farm in the Department of Ain, eastern France. The farm houses over 11,000 turkeys. Whether or not the turkeys were infected with the virulent H5N1 strain remains to be seen. In the same area, two wild ducks were recently confirmed to have died of H5N1 infection.

Dominique Bussereay, French Farm Minister, says he is concerned as the farm in question is within the protection zone they had set up after they found the first infected duck.

If test results come back positive, this will be the first European Union case of farmed poultry dying of H5N1 infection.

France has the biggest poultry industry in the European Union, worth Euros 6 billion per year ($7 billion dollars). According to a collection of sources in the country, poultry sales have already dropped by one third.

The H5N1 virus is the most virulent (deadly, potent, powerful) one. It spreads rapidly among birds – a sick bird can infect all the poultry in one farm in one afternoon. Humans have no immunity against the H5N1 bird flu virus strain. However, humans do not catch it easily from birds. Hundreds of millions of birds have died as a result of bird flu infection since 2003, while only about 90 humans have died.

Infected humans cannot infect other humans, unless there is a lot of continuous physical contact, as may be the case when one is caring for a sick relative. Even then, infection is extremely rare.

Experts worry that the H5N1 strain may soon mutate, and then spread easily from human-to-human. It can mutate in various ways. The most likely way is to infect a human who has the normal human flu. The H5N1 strain could then exchange genetic information with the human flu virus and pick up its ability to spread among humans. Hopefully, when it mutates, it may lose some of its virulence.

Most experts agree that the H5N1 will mutate – the big question is not ?if’ any more, it is ?when’.

The more we can slow the virus’ spread down, the more we can reduce its chances of mutating. If more humans get infected, the chances of a mutation is higher. At present, the only way a human can catch bird flu is from an infected bird. It is necessary to touch the sick bird, its feathers or its faeces (excrements). Therefore, people who work in poultry farms, people who have backyard poultry, and people involved in the slaughter of poultry have to be extremely careful.

Many countries in the European Union are telling their farmers to keep their live poultry indoors. Wild birds swoop down on where free range poultry live and eat their food and drink their water. Keeping farmed poultry separate from wild birds reduces the chances of farmed stocks becoming infected. This, in turn, reduces the possibilities of human infection.

In 1918 there was a flu pandemic, it was called Spanish Flu. The virus was a mutated bird flu virus. Spanish Flu killed an estimated 40 million people worldwide. It spread around the world within a few months. Today, with so many people travelling by plane, the spread would be much faster.

We have some antiviral drugs which can save infected patients if administered early enough. Health professionals have found that Tamiflu will save a patient’s life if administered within three days of symptoms appearing. If administered later it is useless.

The H5N1 virus strain is extremely virulent. It spreads through the lungs, infecting them, at ten times the speed of a normal flu virus.

About 180 people have become infected with bird flu since 2003, about half have died. Whether this means the virus has a 50% death rate is uncertain. Most of the deaths have occurred in south east Asia, where medical services are not as comprehensive and widespread as in the European Union. In countries where good medical treatment is available quickly, the death rate is likely to be much lower than 50%.

It is possible to create a vaccine to protect humans. The trouble is we need to identify the virus before we can create the vaccine. We do not know what the new mutated virus will be like – hence, we cannot start creating the vaccine until the mutated virus has emerged.

It is crucial that all countries in the world cooperate fully in stemming the spread of the bird flu virus.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today