Harish Palaniappan's

"One person dies of bird flu in china.." reported the presenter on BBC news.. We have heard about deaths due to bird flu in different parts of the world.. all reporting a few deaths now and then.

This virus is very confusing and peculiar.

Is it really attacking only particular people.. and killing a very few here and there in the world..

or,
is it like governments of countries suppress the number of deaths to avoid panic with tourists and local people.

Because, i have not heard about any virus that can affect only particular people. Viruses don't spread like that. they spread like slow fire. they make all their victims difficult.

Also, i have heard that atleast 90% of bird flu victims are from asia or a few european countries.. Is bird flu sensitive to climate or something because of which it is more threatening to asian and a few european countries, countries which are close to equator alone?

All these confusions, and i could derive the following quickly from the web recently.

1. Bird flu has for centuries been there affecting birds, and sometimes pigs and a few other animals. But in recent years the virus seems to have gained strength to jump from birds and infect humans, and particular strains of bird flu called 'Avian influenza' are the ones that infect humans.

These strains of the virus move from bird to human infecting them. Yes, as far as I could find out, bird flu can infect a person only from birds.. at this point of time atleast the virus is not capable of moving from human to human..

It definitely is a peculiar virus to study.. no wonder no effective medicine is yet identified to save humans.

2. But there isn't "just one" bird flu - there are many.

3. Even so, only the strain "H5N1 virus" or "Avian Flu" or "Avian influenza" is capable of infecting humans with potentially devastating consequences.

4. Since at this point of time it can move from only a bird to human.. not from human to human..and only particular strains are devastating on humans, the virus is killing less humans.

5. The only way known to control bird flu is... to kill affected or probably affected birds.. and this one concept kills millions of chicken every year.

6. The biggest threat is, if bird flu mixes with human flu or somehow gets capability to move from human-to-human... that day could trigger something very serious.

Related links:
Center for disease control and prevention
Whats bird flu
61 facts on bird-flu