Bird flu, the cause for flu pandemic? - By: Groshan Fabiola

Specialists are unable to tell what is the virus that will cause the pandemic flu. More than that they are concerned about a flu pandemic, that will start, as they say, from the Far East. The problem will be how to prevent it from reaching Europe. They believe the virus will have a severe impact that will lead to a high number of cases and more than that to a high mortality rate.

In order to understand what are the risks of a bird flu pandemic we need to understand first what is a pandemic. We heard many times the terms flu epidemics which are normal and occur seasonally in every corner of the earth. We understand through epidemic a widespread disease that occurs in a community, population or area. A pandemic is an epidemic but at a much greater scale that spreads around the world and affects a high number of persons.

The history mentions three influenza pandemics occurred in the last century. First of it was the Spanish flu that began in 1918 and ended in 1919. Second we have to remember the Asian flu that lasted from 1957 to 1958 and the third one was the Hong Kong flu that lasted from 1968 till 1969. All three pandemics caused many deaths and huge economical and social disruption.

Influenza A is not the only group of flu viruses. It is true that influenza A was the cause of all previous flu pandemics and it is also true that influenza A viruses have the ability to spread from birds to animals and even humans. We should not forget influenza B and influenza C viruses that have the capacity to affect people but in milder ways than influenza A viruses.

The great concern of the specialists is that the virus H5N1, the subtype of avian influenza A could cause the next pandemic. The reasons they believe that are because of its already proved ability to infect people and cause severe health problems and because the virus capacity to mutate and acquire genes from viruses infecting other species.

Another great concern of the specialists is the two way possibility for the virus to either adapt or exchange genes with another human flu virus in order to produce a new virus capable of spreading incredibly fast through people.

In conclusion specialists affirm that in case of flu pandemic only a few people would have natural immunity.

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For more information about bird flu or even about asian bird flu please review this page http://www.bird-flu-info-center.com/asian-bird-flu.htm

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