The silent menace

In some areas of Indochina, a silent killer is devastating an entire industry. Thousands of poultry die each day from Bird Flu, and the threat of mutation into a human strain - one that can easily turn into a global pandemic - is very real. Learn more from this site about the silent menace and how you can protect yourself and your family if you go to Asia on holiday.

Are you at risk?

Of the 15 subtypes known, only subtypes H5, H7 and H9 are known to be capable of crossing the species barrier from birds to humans. It is feared that if the avian influenza virus undergoes antigenic shift with a human influenza virus, the new subtype created could be both highly contagious and highly lethal in humans.

> read more...

How to tell...

Firstly, there is no evidence that the people who have been infected with avian flu have passed the disease on to other people. This suggests that a new, highly infectious, flu virus has not been produced yet.

However, every time an avian flu virus jumps from a bird to a person, the risk of a new flu virus being produced increases. For this reason, governments are keen to prevent the spread of avian flu among birds and this is why they are culling their poultry stocks.

> read more...

Travelers advise...

The reason for seemingly worldwide governmental panic is that until 1997 avian flu was believed to only infect birds, however in 1997 it was discovered that the virus can occasionally infect people who have been in close contact with live birds in markets or farms.

> read more...