What are the symptoms of bird flu?
The bird flu is a sickness that is causing people and governments to worry. If the bird flu were to hit the human population it could become an epidemic. Like other sicknesses in the past such as the plague, it is something that could cause widespread sickness and death. It is for this reason that people are becoming so worried. The chances of the bird flu hitting are still relatively small, but if it did hit the effects would be terrible, so being aware of it can help you prepare for it, and recognize it.
For the bird flu to infect a person and become a disease that would spread quickly around the world, four things would have to happen. First, a human being would have to be infected with the normal flu. Second, a bird would have to be infected with the bird flu. Third, a bird carrying the bird flu would have to come in contact with a human being carrying the normal flu and pass the bird flu to the human. Fourth, the two flues would have to mix genes inside the person and become a new flu, highly dangerous.
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This seems like a very hard process, but with the number of birds infected increasing, the likelihood that one of these birds would come into contact with an infected human being is also increasing. Every now and then a person will become infected with the bird flu and get sick, but it is not the type of infection that spreads because it does not mixed with the human flu.
There are multiple symptoms that come with the bird flu. They are not much different than the symptoms that accompany the normal, human flu. One difference is that the symptoms for the human flu usually include nausea and vomiting while the symptoms of the bird flu contain less of these types of problems. Like the human flu, the bird flu will be accompanied by high temperatures.
Different people who have had the bird flu have been admitted to the hospital because of high fevers. Once they get to a certain temperature it is very dangerous for them and their brain activity. Because of high fever temperatures people with the bird flu are admitted to the hospital so that the hospital can give them the necessary medicines to take that temperature down. It is usually here that they find out that they have the bird flu.
There are other symptoms common between the bird flu and human flu such as muscle aches and a sore throat. These two symptoms are usually the most miserable of flu symptoms because they make it hard to function. With a cough and a fever you are still able to do a lot of things. But with aches and a sore throat it is very hard to be up and around. You are so miserable that you just want to be lying down all the time. If you are up and about too many times your symptoms tend to worsen and become unbearable.
Another symptom that is part of the bird flu is conjunctivitis. This is simply red puffy eyes. More than puffy eyelids though, it can also mean that the eyeballs themselves will puff up. The more common term for conjunctivitis is Pink Eye. If you have conjunctivitis your eyes will be red, swollen, watery and itchy. That is probably the worst case though; it is possible to have forms that are not as severe such as being itchy and a little pink rather than having all the symptoms.
Those with the bird flu are very likely to have serous breathing problems such as pneumonia. This can be very hard to deal with and can be very dangerous. The bird flu is a disease that needs to be worried about to the point that you prepare for it just incase it were to hit, but it is not something you need over-worry about. Until it actually hits you should not do anything drastic.
