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In the 1330s, the bubonic plague killed millions of people. Transmitted by rats, the disease originated from China. It later spread to Europe when merchants came back from their long voyage from China. The disease was also spread by fleas that when passed on to humans, became fatal. The bubonic plague continued for years and took the lives of millions of people.

Online Stock Market Trading Seven centuries later, a new disease is threatening to kill many if precautions are not made. This new disease is avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu. Instead of rodents, birds transmit this disease to humans. Birds carry the bird flu virus in their intestines when they migrate for the winter. The virus, which does not affect the carriers, is deadly to those who come in contact with birds carrying the virus. When chickens, birds or geese come in contact with a bird carrying the virus through the bird's saliva, nasal secretions or feces, they can become infected, fall ill and die in 48 hours.

Intensive poultry farming may have been a factor in the global spread of bird flu, General Dr. Margaret Chan, who added that the majority of new diseases (including SARS, Ebola and bird flu) stemmed from animals, the AP reported.

Stock Investing Course Humans infected with bird flu have symptoms similar to symptoms of human influenza: fever, sore throat or muscle pain. Because of this similarity, it is easy to mistakenly diagnose an actual bird flu as human influenza. However, humans infected with avian flu would have worse symptoms - eye infections and respiratory problems that could become life threatening.

That cluster of deaths caused fears that the virus was mutating into a form that could be easily transmitted from human to human. However, experts later concluded that was not the case. In this latest outbreak, seven people from the village in the Karo district in Northern Sumatra province have been hospitalized with suspected bird flu, BBC News reported. Officials are waiting for test results to confirm that it is bird flu.

Stock Market Game Influenza in pandemic proportions is recorded to have happened three times during the 20th century. The Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu of 1968 claimed at least 20 million people worldwide.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of Thailand Faces Second Bird Flu Outbreak The Thai government has ordered the slaughter of 300, 000 chickens as officials of that country face the second outbreak of bird flu in the past year. "The H5N1 virus was found in chickens in a local farm, " Assistant Agricultural Minister Charal Trinvuththipong told Presse on Sunday. The farm where the outbreak occurred is located in the Nakhon Phanom province, which is to the northeast of Bangkok. "It is the second outbreak [this year] following the one in the Phichit province, Charal added.

Stock Investing Game It's important to mention that humans will not usually get bird flu unless they have been in close contact with infected poultry. Since the number of people that has been infected with the disease is still low and confined to a few children and adults, there is no serious cause of alarm yet. However, scientists and the health community are concerned that the disease, which usually affects poultry livestock, may evolve into something that will adversely affect humans. In some scenarios, the bird flu virus may become airborne or transmitted from one human to another.

or "bird flu", is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. While all bird species are thought to be susceptible to infection, domestic poultry flocks are especially vulnerable to infections that can rapidly reach epidemic proportions. December 2003, a growing number of Asian countries have reported outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in chickens and ducks. Infections in several species of wild birds and in pigs have also been reported.

Journal Prime Rate Street Wall The bird flu virus has many subtypes, but the subtype that is proving to be fatal to humans is called the H5N1. To date, about 70 people in Asia are confirmed to have died from H5N1.

This concept gets a whole lot more interesting when you apply it on a global scale, and start to think about geospacial concepts like environmental monitoring and pandemics. Researches at UC Berkeley on devices, which if integrated into cell phones, could bring this concept to life. Simple environmental sensors would allow us to monitor and manage significant global issues like Carbon Monoxide emissions and outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease as well as ordinary, close to home issues, like home pollutants. immediately report on disease outbreaks, responses to large scale pandemics may be made more timely and effective.

Stock Market News When a bird flu outbreak occurs, the entire livestock has to be destroyed. This is similar to what happened during the mad cow disease outbreak when cattle had to be slaughtered and burned in order to prevent the disease from spreading to nearby cattle areas. The slaughtering and burning of cattle were done in many countries in the Asian region as well as in some parts of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Stock Investing Basics Antiviral medications such as amantadine and rimantadine, which are usually given to treat influenza, do not work on the bird flu virus. Drugs are being developed and temporarily used on patients who appear to have succumbed to the avian flu disease. Although they appear to be responding to treatment and are showing improvements, further tests need to be done to ensure the effectivity of these new drugs.

Stock Investing Software Centuries ago, particularly during the bubonic plague, medical science was not yet developed to cope with an epidemic of pandemic proportions. However, with the advances in technology today, scientists will be able to study the avian flu disease further. By closely watching the migratory patterns of birds and understanding the disease, scientists may help prevent bird flu from becoming another global outbreak.

Stock Market Trading With the help of the internet, information can be disseminated quickly to thousands of people around the world and a reaction force can be immediately deployed to stop the disease from spreading any further.

Stock Investing For Dummy It is important for people to realize that the bird flu virus is not merely one country's problem. It is a serious global problem that affects all countries and all peoples.

Stock Market Crash Niall Cinneide publishes a news site, with reports and articles, about avian flu at http://www.bird-flu-alert.info

Stock Investing Tip This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright Bird-Flu-Alert.info

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