Your Pet and the potential Avian Flu H5N1 Pandemic
What do we know about the H5N1 influenza virus and our pets?
- The H5N1 virus is transmissible between birds. Among the birds that have been infected are chickens, turkeys, swans, ducks, and parrots.
- Flu viruses transfer between birds through several vectors including their feces. Wild birds and domestic birds that come into contact may further the spread of the disease between birds. You should not handle wild birds that appear to be ill, but report dead or sick birds to the local department of public health. You should keep your pet bird away from other birds that may be carrying the virus. Don't acquire pet birds from illegal smugglers that may be smuggling infected birds past health inspectors and quarantines. Don't participate in illegal cock-fighting where the transfer of blood to fighting cock owners can transmit the disease to humans.
- The H5N1 virus has transferred in some cases from birds to cats, both large wild species like tigers, and to domestic cats. Keep your pet cats inside where they cannot come into contact with birds or other cats that may be infected.
- You should plan on preparing for your pets care during a pandemic emergency, should one occur. Visit the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website for guidance on Pandemic preparations.
- Pet pigs. Pigs have been found to have the H5N1 virus. Articles show that the virus was first detected in pigs in 2001. The similarity between viruses that attack humans and those that attack pigs cause an increase concern about the potential for this virus to spread to humans. Pigs should be kept away from avian species and their droppings.
How likely is a H5N1 Pandemic? What is the timeline of events to date?
- A BBC article shows a graph of the countries in which the avian flu virus has been found.
- A list of bird flu events is maintained by various news organizations. We have assembled graphics of the timeline based on those reports:
Time lapse maps of the bird flu's progress across much of the globe are also available.
What should we do to prepare for the Avian Flu Pandemic?
- The U.S. Government has published its National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza. We should be aware of and follow its guidance. This guidance indicates quarantines may be appropriate when directed by appropriate authorities. You should be prepared to care for yourself and your pets for several weeks if quarantined.
What can you do to protect yourself from contracting the flu - any flu - including the H5N1 virus?
- The best protection will be a vaccine - when one is available for the H5N1 virus.
- Antiviral medications such as Tamiflu that haven't been available in previous pandemics (they have recently been manufactured) may have some benefit in reducing flu symptoms.
- Since the virus has to enter your body to infect you, you can protect yourself with face masks, and by frequently (approximately every two hours has been suggested) cleaning your hands.
Why have approximately fifty percent of the people who have now contracted the H5N1 virus across the globe died?
- The virus causes an immune system response that is very aggressive because people have not been exposed to this virus previously, and have not developed an immune system response through vaccination. This response reportedly manifests deep in the lungs where the virus infects and causes the victim to die of lung failure. If the reported timelines are an indication, most people who die from the disease seem to do so within a week of contracting it. X-rays of patients with the disease can indicate whether the patient is likely to survive or not as it shows how involved their lungs may be in the infection.
Can humans catch the H5N1 virus from our pets?
- Human cases of the virus to date appear likely to have been transmitted by birds. However there is a possibility that other animal hosts will develop a virus that transmits to humans. The biggest threat of pandemic is if the virus mutates to pass from human to human. Humans catch the disease by breathing in the virus on airborne droplets. Snuggling with your pets, contact with their saliva or fecal excretions should be limited should the threat of transfer from animals to humans become more widespread.
Remember - there is no certainty that the bird-flu pandemic will transmit from person to person in widespread fashion. The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic was transmitted in part by returning soldiers from infected areas of the world. Of note, two fatalities from the bird flu have occurred in Iraq, but unlike the days of old where travel was limited to few persons and through oceanic voyages, today's intercontinental flights present a higher risk or exporting pathogens between population centers.
You can receive State government of Virginia guidance on the bird flu via a video.
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