Birds can be infected by influenza A viruses and all of its subtypes. Birds are not capable of carrying, spreading, or being hosts for either type B or C of the influenza viruses.
There are three main subtypes avian FLU.
H5, H7 and H9. H5 and H7 are the most deadly strains of avian FLU, and the H9 subtype is less serious to humans and other animals.
Most of the illnesses associated with bird have been in Asian countries, people in the United States are not at high risk for contracting this type of virus. Close contact with farm birds and poor sanitary conditions are needed to spread this virus from animals to humans. This virus does not spread through the consumption of well cooked bird meat (chicken, turkey, or duck). High cooking temperatures kill the virus, and eliminate the threat of transmission.
Avian FLU Vaccine ?
There is no bird flu vaccine available to the public to fight the avian FLU virus.. Also, the regular influenza vaccine available worldwide does not provide any protection against the spread or infection of the bird flu.
Swine (pig) FLU.
Swine flu is a type of virus that usually affects pigs. There are four different flu strains common among pigs. The animals live with these 4 viral strains on a daily basis and it rarely proves fatal among them. More recently, the number of human swine flu cases reported around the world has increased, this is attributed to the higher standards of reporting them and globalization.
Once the virus jumps from animal to human, the strains of swine influenza are being spread almost entirely from human to human social contact. Human transmission and infection is easily attained through coughing, sneezing, or touching something with the swine flu viruses on it. Also, it is worthy of noting that you cannot catch the swine FLU virus by eating pork as long as it is well cooked before consumption.
Swine FLU Vaccine ?
There currently is no vaccine for the swine flu available for sale anywhere in the world. In addition, standard FLU vaccines available to the public do not provide complete protection from the swine flu (the swine virus is a different strain).
What are the treatments for swine flu?
Symmetrel (amantadine), Flumadine (rimantadine), Tamiflu (oseltamivir), and Relenza (zanamivir), are four different antiviral drugs that have been approved in the United States for the treatment of this flu strain. Tamiflu or Relenza for treatment and prevention the swine flu is recommended by national authorities because new strains of swine FLU have become resistant to the other two drugs. These treatments do not guarantee your safety against infection, but they are found helpful in most cases. New vaccines are being developed all the time in order to combat the ever changing FLU viruses, new vaccines take about six months to produce and release. This of course presents problems. By the time the vaccines are released and available to the public the FLU virus have the opportunity to morph into a new and different threat, rendering the produced vaccine ineffective.
Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WebMD, medical journals, Associated Press.
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