History of the H5N1 Strain

The influenza virus causes illness in humans that is usually pretty well contained. However, sometimes, particularly deadly strains of the illness become dominant, and spread throughout the world. When this occurs, a global pandemic commences, with people struggling to keep themselves safe from the deadly virus. We may currently be facing the threat of a pandemic with a type of influenza virus known as H5N1, and in this article, we'll examine the progress of H5N1 as it begins to present more and more of a threat to our way of life.

The first time that we realized that the H5N1 virus, or avian flu, was a threat to humanity was the year of 1997. In this year, we discovered that the virus had been transmitted from a bird to a person in Hong Kong. It was the first time that doctors have ever seen the transference of a virus from birds directly to humans, and it caused many to be fearful about the possibility of the virus. In this year, 18 cases of avian flu in humans were diagnosed in Hong Kong, with 6 of the patients dying as a result. 1999 saw another outbreak of the avian flu amongst the peoples of Hong Kong. 2 children were diagnosed with H5N1 in 1999, and doctors believed that the disease was transferred through poultry.

The next year that saw any significant threats developing from the avian flu was 2003. In that year, two more cases of avian flu were diagnosed, this time in travelers who were visiting China from Hong Kong. One of the travelers died from the illness, while the other successfully recovered. Also, South Korea saw signs of avian flu present in 2003. Birds on farms were successfully diagnosed as having the virus, The number of bird flu cases exploded significantly after this finding, and soon, the virus was found to be present in Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia.

As of 2004, the threat of bird flu continued to grow. Domestic birds throughout Asia began to die from the flu, and as many as 120,000,000 birds died as a result of the flu. Asian countries began to report that the disease was present throughout their domestic birds, and it was generally acknowledged that the problem would be impossible to contain. Scientists also discovered in 2004 that ducks were actually silent carriers of the illness. While ducks weren't affected by the virus, they did help to spread it through their feces if they became infected with it. As of the writing of this article, there have been over 120 cases of bird flu diagnosed in humans, with a mortality rate of roughly fifty percent. Every time the flu transfers to a human, the virus stands a chance of mutating into a form that can spread more easily from human to human. When that mutation occurs, the threat to the world will be great, and we can only hope that we find some sort of measure to contain the virus.