Bird flu

Officially, the history of the flu began back in 1997, in China, when the media raised panic around the world, reporting a sick person. Six years later, chicken flu was discovered in Asia and Europe. A new wave of panic caused a sharp decline in the export of poultry and its consumption in food. The panic was caused by a high percentage of the likelihood of a fatal outcome when a person was infected, because at the time of the outbreak, knowledge about the disease was negligible.

The virus, with a short, simple formula, H5N1 (or, more simply, bird flu), refers to types of influenza with type A. It affects birds, mostly wild ones, but they do not mind living in domestic poultry. Timely diagnosis of it is very difficult, because it manifests itself either sluggishly or not at all. Mortality among birds is low.

Certain difficulties in diagnosing caused the incubation period - the H5N1 virus could only appear in two weeks (and even more) from the moment of infection.

The main factor of infection was, of course, a sick bird. The transmission paths are different - from direct contact to elementary air-drop propagation. The absence of large areas of damage to this virus today does not mean that the bird flu virus has been eradicated. The virus circulates among birds and now, which means that the risk of human infection remains.

It is impossible to diagnose yourself, because the symptoms of avian flu are very, very diverse and can often indicate another disease. The first thing to note is whether there are H5N1 foci in the region where the person is ill. Avian influenza is indicated by fever, nasal congestion, severe, shortness of breath. In the first time (the first days) there can be diarrhea without blood impurities. Symptoms of avian flu include nausea and vomiting. The person is shivering, there is a strong weakness, a pain in the muscles. The temperature rises to the critical, at which the blood turns and death is inevitable.

Avian influenza is now not included in the category of a mass epidemic, but it can not be excluded from diagnostics in the course of diagnosis, since any bird can even bring in a thousand miles any bird at any time.

Your analysis of the situation will help in diagnosing. When contacting doctors for help, report whether you have had contact with birds, especially if there are already cases of disease in your area. Do not refuse hospitalization, even if the diagnosis has not yet been confirmed. Avian influenza treatment is difficult, and independent treatment is impossible at all.

Preventive measures only slightly reduce the risk of the disease, but do not exclude it at all. It is very important to isolate the sick person. This applies to both birds and humans. In the risk group, all who have contact with the source of infection, including physicians, are at risk.

To increase the resistance, preparations "Algirem", "Arbidol", "Remantadin" are recommended. But remember: these drugs are used for prevention, for treatment they are supplemented by other, more powerful means.

Avian influenza is treated permanently. The patient is placed in an isolated ward and discharged a week after the normalization of the temperature (not earlier). Methods of treatment of medical luminaries are still debated, but the introduction of antiviral drugs such as "Tamiflu" has already shown positive results. The drug "Arbidol" is also included in the category of effective drugs, the dosage of which doubles in the first days. It is appropriate to use drugs adamantovoy group (for example, drugs "Algirem" or "Remantadin").

The strictest isolation of the patient is indeed extremely important. Avian influenza spreads easily and fairly quickly. Mortality, according to medical statistics, is 60% of all cases of the disease. Given the long incubation times and so blurred symptoms, and therefore - the complexity of the diagnosis, it is difficult to even imagine the scale of the consequences if the H5N1 virus is released. By the way, according to unconfirmed reports, this virus, having settled in the human body, mutates, "adapting" to new conditions ...