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Flu InformationBird Flu: Who Is at Greatest Risk of Dying?
by:
Bradford Frank M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Vertebrate flu or “bird flu” has now caused more than 60 deaths worldwide, with the most recent epidemic in Indonesia, wherever
four folk have died. On a global basis, 60 deaths are not really many. So why are health experts becoming afraid
just about the H5N1 (“bird flu”) virus? Folk are concerned because the virus has incontestable
the ability to kill a high percentage of the humans it infects. In addition, it has spread from birds to galore another species, which is really atypical of viruses. The spread of infection in birds increases the opportunities for direct infection of humans. If more humans become infected over time, the likeliness besides increases that humans, if at the same time
infected with human and avian-influenza strains, could serve as the “mixing vessel” for the emergence of a novel subtype—with adequate human genes to be easily transmitted from person to person.
Once the virus acquires the capability to “go human,” an flu pandemic (that is, a global epidemic) would-be likely result in a matter of weeks. To date, the huge majority of infections of bird flu in humans have been noninheritable by close contact with domestic poultry. However, there is one documented case of human-to-human transmission in Thailand. It remains a curious fact that most folk who have worked with poultry infected with the bird-flu virus, culling infected birds for example, have not become infected—a fact that no one seems able to adequately explain.
The substance changes (that is, changes in the exterior proteins—Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase) in bird and human flu viruses go on year after year. Annual flu outbreaks typically do not cause severe unwellness and death, because folk have built up natural immunity to the viruses over a period of years. Rapid spread of H5N1 viruses between humans, on the another hand, wish led to explosive global expansion in which everyone is at risk for infection, illness, and death because of a complete lack of natural immunity to the virus.
Because vertebrate flu or “bird flu” is more much deadly than the regular annual flu in humans, coupled with the high infectiousness of flu viruses in general, a bird-flu pandemic is possibly
really deadly, causation galore tens—or even as hundreds—of millions of deaths across the globe. In Gregorian calendar month 2005, Dr. David Nabarro of the Earth Health Organization (WHO) stated, “A new pandemic would-be claim between 5 million and 150 million people.”
Once a flu pandemic starts, everyone wish be at risk of acquiring pandemic flu, because no one has natural immunity to the virus. However, certain groups may be at greater risk of dying than others. There are strong indications that the coming bird-flu pandemic may be similar to the flu pandemic of 1918 and, if so, healthy adults would-be be most at risk of dying, on
with pregnant women and the elderly.
Why are healthy adults at greatest risk? It appears that the H5N1 bird-flu virus causes a massive immunologic response against the virus in those with the strongest immune systems. Unfortunately, this causes the release of human enzymes called “cytokines,” which destroy respiratory organ
cells on
with microorganism particles. This, in turn, causes a deadly outpouring of fluids into the lung, which interferes with the exchange of o and carbon dioxide. This reaction is often fatal. There are few effective treatments—one of the only treatments accessible is to place the patient on a ventilator, a mechanical respirator. Even as with this treatment, patients often die from complications.
Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The Frank Group
P.O. Box 138
Lakewood, NY 14750
www.AvoidBirdFlu.com
Just just about the author:
Pressman Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The Frank Group
P.O. Box 138
Lakewood, NY 14750
www.AvoidBirdFlu.com
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