Avian Flu Essay

Avian Flu

KUMAMOTO JAPAN: Two Japanese chicken farms had to put down 112,000 chickens because of a new outbreak of bird flu. While there hasn’t been any transmission between birds and humans in Japan ever, the Avian Influenza Type A virus is still being handled with significant care to avoid any possibility of human harm. A Japanese Food Safety Commission publishing noted that avian flu was quickly broken down by stomach acid so there wouldn’t be foreseeable harm to any people if they ingested some of the contaminated chicken or their eggs. As a further precaution, authorities are banning the transportation of chickens and eggs within the affected areas. Additionally, vehicles are being inspected and disinfected near the chicken farms. These restrictions are posing financial problems for the farm owners who rely on steady sales to keep operating—the trade embargo and loss of a significant amount of livestock can be troublesome.

Avian Influenza has been documented in over 100 different types of birds. However, it is important to distinguish between the LPAI (low pathogenic avian influenza) and HPAI (high pathogenic avian influenza) variants of bird flu. LPAI can have side effects as negligible as rumpled feathers or a decreases in egg production. Sometimes it isn’t even detected by livestock keepers. While LPAI doesn’t seem very bad, the potential for real harm happens when LPAI Bird Flu virus mutates into the highly lethal HPAI type. The virus can mutate very quickly since it is a single-stranded RNA virus, characterized by often and extreme mutations. Birds infected with the high pathogenic avian influenza suffer a 90%-100% mortality rate in less than two days! The birds die from rapid degradation of many internal organs. Int...

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