Bird Flu Craze

H7N9 bird flu at poultry market in Zhuji, Zhejing province.
Source: REUTERS, 7 News 17 January, 2014.

As I was reading the controversy news of our nature’s threat of the Avian Flu (H7N9), commonly known as the bird flu, I was really interested in how this outbreak has caused us humans to be infected from such virus. From progressive links on Google and some from World media news, I began to hunt down how the bird flu started and why is it a life threatening case for everyone around the globe.

How Avian Influenza is spread

According to Better Health Victoria (2014), this virus is carried by waters birds such as wild ducks. The virus is contained inside the bird’s intestines and is then distributed into the environment via bird faeces or ‘poo’. Domestic birds such as chicken and turkey are therefore affected by contact of this ‘poo’. Because of this, these domestic birds become ill, shedding feathers and vomiting which then is spread towards other surrounding birds that are clustered in the same pen or shelter. When humans come in contact with this bird, there is a high risk of infection within this bird flu.

Why the craze

According to the Seven News media reports and world news from the net, the bird flu craze began in the Republic of China where incidents of certain deaths and a record of three dead (according to World Health Organisation) – there is a high chance that this epidemic flu could be spread around the globe! But scientists say that these transmission of mutated viruses could not be easily spread from human to human as there is no evidence to prove this in the world today.

The most concern for me is that the poultry industry around the globe. Many poultry industries have shut down due to the ‘threat’ of this virus, limiting the world’s supply of protein and increasing the costs of poultry meat in our supermarkets in the short term.

H5N1 in South Korea, Culling and strict controls after ducks found to be affected by the virus.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald January 18, 2014.

Long term concerns

However in the long term, would our chickens be more genetically modified to meet the demands of our hungry nations for chicken? We are starting to see that scientists have been pumping up hormones to provide more meaty dishes. The reality is that these modified chickens would not taste as nice and silky in comparison to those free range and natural upbringing of chickens.

This would obviously become an issue for Animal Rights Activists seeking to demand a stop in these cruel modifications and yet cause another political debate on what is right for us.

How can we stop such spread of the flu? We can’t hunt down and kill all these wild birds – this is will become a war against humans and its mother nature. And a threat for our future generations who may miss the opportunity to understand and learn different kinds of species that existed in this world. Like the Dodo which has become extinct and now many other birds we see today are becoming extinct.

What can our society do to help nurture these wild animals and at the same time, populate more domestically fed poultry farms to avoid these virus from spreading around the globe?

Would the World Health Organisation set standards for the poultry industry to take measures of handling these birds in order to avoid future epidemic viruses?

These two questions are constantly being asked around the world in order to seek possible answers that will help us treat from the Bird Influenza and provide assurance in future that the virus would not be spread around the globe. What we see now in the News, can be something that our future generations can build possible solutions and treatments to end this craze.

Reference:

Belov T., 2014, ‘Nature’s Nightmare: Human infection with Avian Flu’,Pravda.ru, 20^th January, accessed on 19^th January, 2014, < http://english.pravda.ru/health/20-01-2014/126621-avian_flu-0/>.

Better Health Channel, 2014, State Government Department of Health Victoria, accessed on 19^th January, 2014, < http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Bird_flu>.

Kelland, K.,  2014, ‘Increasing toll of H7N9 bird flu demands constant vigilance’, 7News, 17 January, accessed on 20^th January, < http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/20830589/increasing-toll-of-h7n9-bird-flu-demands-constant-vigilance/>.

Thistleton,J.  2014, ‘Farmers say bird flu will affect free range’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 January, accessed on 20^th January, 2014 < http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/farmers-say-bird-flu-will-affect-free-range-20140112-30oqr.html>