Bird flu.

Bird flu, or avian flu, is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds. In rare cases, it can affect humans.

There are lots of different strains of bird flu virus. Most of them don’t infect humans. But there are 4 strains that have caused concern in recent years:

• H5N1 (since 1997)
• H7N9 (since 2013)
• H5N6 (since 2014)
• H5N8 (since 2016)

Although H5N1, H7N9 and H5N6 don’t infect people easily and aren’t usually spread from human to human, several people have been infected around the world, leading to a number of deaths. H5N8 has not infected any humans worldwide to date.

How bird flu spreads to humans

Bird flu is spread by close contact with an infected bird (dead or alive).

This includes:

• touching infected birds
• touching droppings or bedding
• killing or preparing infected poultry for cooking

Markets where live birds are sold can also be a source of bird flu. Avoid visiting these markets if you’re travelling to countries that have had an outbreak of bird flu.

You can’t catch bird flu through eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, even in areas with an outbreak of bird flu.

Things you can do to prevent bird flu

If you’re visiting a foreign country that’s had an outbreak you should:

• wash your hands often with warm water and soap, especially before and after handling food, in particular raw poultry
• use different utensils for cooked and raw meat
• make sure meat is cooked until steaming hot
• avoid contact with live birds and poultry

What not to do:

• do not go near or touch bird droppings or sick or dead birds
• do not go to live animal markets or poultry farms
• do not bring any live birds or poultry back to the UK, including feathers
• do not eat undercooked or raw poultry or duck
• do not eat raw eggs

There is no bird flu vaccine

The seasonal flu vaccine doesn’t protect against bird flu.

Symptoms of bird flu

The main symptoms of bird flu can appear very quickly and include:

• a very high temperature or feeling hot or shivery
• aching muscles
• headache
• a cough

Other early symptoms may include:

• diarrhoea
• sickness
• stomach pain
• chest pain
• bleeding from the nose and gums
• conjunctivitis

It usually takes 3 to 5 days for the first symptoms to appear after you’ve been infected.

Within days of symptoms appearing, it’s possible to develop more severe complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Getting treatment quickly, using antiviral medicine, may prevent complications and reduce the risk of developing severe illness.