- Oct 29, 2008
- 77
- 8
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Hi Everyone
It seems that swine flu or H1n1 is going to be very prevalent this year in humans. If you get it, have someone else care for your birds while you are sick. Swine flu has been found in turkeys in Chile, and it's thought they caught it from sick human caretakers. It doesn't affect birds too much, they drop egg production a bit but don't seem too sick.
The precaution is because swine flu and bird flu are very similar and there's a worry that if the two viruses combine the result could be much, much worse thann H1N1 is now. Bird flu is much more deadly to humans but so far it's relatively hard to pass from person to person and even hard for humans to get from birds. Swine flu is less dangerous to humans but extremely contagious. It spreads rapidly between people and is eaisier to catch from domestic animals.
If the two combined, they could make a virus that is deadly and spreads rapidly, very bad news. If a host animal had both strains it might lead to virus re-combination.
So if you have the H1N1 flu or swine flu, stay away from your chickens or even pet birds. It would be good to stay away if you have a fever, since sometimes thats the only real sign in mild cases of the flu. At this time I don't think bird flu is too active in the US but it has been here and could come again with migrating birds. Lets help out and do anything we can to avoid a bad epidemic.
It seems that swine flu or H1n1 is going to be very prevalent this year in humans. If you get it, have someone else care for your birds while you are sick. Swine flu has been found in turkeys in Chile, and it's thought they caught it from sick human caretakers. It doesn't affect birds too much, they drop egg production a bit but don't seem too sick.
The precaution is because swine flu and bird flu are very similar and there's a worry that if the two viruses combine the result could be much, much worse thann H1N1 is now. Bird flu is much more deadly to humans but so far it's relatively hard to pass from person to person and even hard for humans to get from birds. Swine flu is less dangerous to humans but extremely contagious. It spreads rapidly between people and is eaisier to catch from domestic animals.
If the two combined, they could make a virus that is deadly and spreads rapidly, very bad news. If a host animal had both strains it might lead to virus re-combination.
So if you have the H1N1 flu or swine flu, stay away from your chickens or even pet birds. It would be good to stay away if you have a fever, since sometimes thats the only real sign in mild cases of the flu. At this time I don't think bird flu is too active in the US but it has been here and could come again with migrating birds. Lets help out and do anything we can to avoid a bad epidemic.
