Bird Flu similar to the Spanish Flu of 1918.

I was watching UNC PBS the other day and it had a special on the Spanish Flu that killed millions in 1918 and compared it to the Avian (Bird) Flu that is hitting Asia now. The big thing they apparently have in common is that they attack the lungs and quickly fill them up with fluid. They found a slice of lung that had been stored on a slide from 1918 from a soldier that was stationed in SC when he caught the Spanish Flu and died and compared it to an 8 year old Thai boy that recently died from the Avian Flu and found a lot of similarities.

It also told in detail how a flu virus mutates and become a danger to humans. This Avian/Bird flu was initially only transmittable from animal to animal. Then the virus mutated and found a way to transmit from animal to human. Basically they said if it finds another way to mutate and is able to be transmitted from human to human, we’re screwed.

The documentary also answered the question of why most of the Avian flu victims were kids from the age of 6-12. In Asia, chickens are everywhere and most rural families own them. More often than not, the task of plucking the bloody chicken is the children’s chore and that’s how it gets transmitted from animal to human.

Back in 1918, it said most of the victims that died of the Spanish Flu died within 4 days of their first symptom. That’s scary! This Avian Flu has the same trademark. If you get a chance to catch that documentary on PBS, it’s a well-invested 30 minutes.

I also found this link on the Avian Flu and how it attacks the human body and creates an ‘immune system storm.’

Bird Flu triggers immune system 'storm'

 

Did they talk about ducks as being the wildcard? The Nat'l Geographic article said that in Asia wild ducks mix with the other poultry and then go back to the wild - where they can spread the virus.

Anyway - hopefully it doesn't mutate to be able to go from animal to human, because it has already spread to Turkey and the UK.

 

Didn't you mean human to human?

 

no, animal to human comes first.

 

But it's already done that.

 

They showed pics of ducks, geese, chickens etc that live in close quarters with humans in SE Asia, but did not specifically mention ducks- it just said "fowl."

Yep- that's already happened. The example is the SE Asian kids getting it from plucking the chickens.

 

Yeah - sorry about that. Human to human was what I meant.