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Fever, sore throat, cough, headache, body aches: just the normal flu? Or could it be more? The bird flu, or avian influenza, is what its name implied: a flue in birds. This type of flu is caused by the virus H5N1 strain. The bird flu infects not only wild birds, but domestic birds too. In birds, the bird flu has a ninety to one hundred percent mortality rating within forty eight hours.

In birds, signs to watch out for are lack of coordination (trouble standing, walking, flying, or any other kind of lack of coordination), greenish diarrhea, discharge from the nostrils that is a pinkish color, eyelids look swollen, appetite loss, and egg production drop or lay eggs that have very soft shells. If you see a bird, or own a bird, that starts exhibiting these symptoms, avoid touching the bird at all costs. Call your local veterinarian or poison control to get information on how your local city handles cases of the bird flu. If you have been out of the country, especially more deprived countries, and begin to get flu like symptoms, go to your doctor as soon as possible just to be on the safe side.

Although highly contagious among birds, the bird flu is rarely passed on to humans. There have only been a handful of bird flu cases among humans since 1997. People get the bird flu from being in very close conditions with birds come into contact with their droppings, blood, or nasal discharge from an infected bird. The scary part is, however, that the bird flu has the same old symptoms as the human influenza (flu): fever, sore throat, cough, headache, and body aches.

Since it is so like the human influenza, the bird flu can't be diagnosed from only symptoms. A swab from your nose or throat will usually do the trick. The bird flu can cause infections in the eyes, a bad case of pneumonia, breathing difficulties, inflammation of the brain and heart, and sometimes even death. There is no current vaccine for the bird flu, so even if you get your yearly flu shot, you are not protected from the bird flu. Concern has risen since May of 2006 when there we several cases where the bird flu was passed from human to human.

Treatment for the bird flu involves antiviral drugs. This does not totally get rid of the flu, but stops the spread, eases symptoms, and lessens the time of the disease.

Recent studies show that birds can also pass on this flu to other animals, such as domestic house cats, wild cats (leopards and tigers), ferrets, and pigs.

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