Avian Influenza in birds, wildlife and domestic animals
If your area becomes infected, what YOU do next can help control the outbreak, protect people and allow normal life to resume in the area.
- Avoid contact with sick or dead birds and animals.
- Report to veterinary authorities if you see significant numbers of sick or dead birds and animals.
- The avian flu virus can be transmitted through contact with poultry, and their droppings, feathers, intestines and blood.
- Wash hands with water and soap regularly and especially after handling animals and cleaning their litter boxes or coming in contact with blood, faeces or saliva.
- It is very important to minimize contact with poultry and wild birds.
- Do not feed any water birds.
- Wild birds can carry the avian flu virus without showing any symptoms and before an epidemic is detected in the area.
- Ducks can become infected with avian flu without showing any symptoms, and then transmit it to chickens and other animals.
- Avian flu can be transmitted between different species (e.g. from poultry to pigs, cats, dogs)
- If cats show breathing problems or nasal discharge, a veterinarian should be consulted.
- Make sure contact between cats and wild birds or poultry (or their faeces) is avoided and/or keep cats inside.
- If cats bring a sick or dead bird inside the house, put on plastic gloves and dispense of the bird in plastic bags for collection by local veterinary animal handlers.
- Do not touch your face until you have washed you hands thoroughly.
- Do not swim in water (such as lakes or rivers) used by wild birds.
- Currently the greatest risk of infection is through the handling and slaughtering of live infected poultry.
- Children are particularly vulnerable – keep them away from poultry and do not allow them to pick up feathers or eggs.
- Avian flu can enter a farm through infected droppings brought in from the outside by shoes, dirty cages and wheels (of bicycles, cars, etc.).
- Always disinfect shoes and vehicles when moving in locations of avian influenza outbreaks.
- Disinfect (e.g. with bleach 2–3 %) cages or other hardware with which sick animals have been transported or been in contact with.
- Wash animal blankets with soap or any other commercial detergent.
- Wear rubber or disposable latex gloves while handling and cleaning game, wash hands with soap and water (or with alcohol-based hand products if the hands are not visibly soiled), and thoroughly clean knives, equipment and surfaces that come in contact with game.
- Do not eat, drink, or smoke while handling or cleaning birds.
- Cook all game meat thoroughly (at least to 165° F) to kill disease organisms and parasites.
If poultry shows the following signs, it may have avian influenza:
- lack of coordination (including inability to walk and stand)
- ruffled feathers
- difficulty in breathing
- loss of appetite
- depression and droopiness
- bluish colouring of wattles and comb
- edema and swelling of head, eyelids, comb, wattles, hocks
- watery diarrhoea
- small haemorrhages (most visible on feet and shanks)
- signs of blood in nose discharge
- sudden fall in egg production
- eggs with soft shells
Clinical Features in Birds
CIDRAP shows the clinical feature (symptoms) are different in chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. Differential diagnosis is discussed. There is no treatment for highly pathenogenic avianinfluenza (HPAI) in poultry. Emphasis is on prevention.
Preparing for Highly Pathenogenic Influenza FAO 60 page pdf
Clinical signs, symptoms, diagnosis, risks, detection through surveillance, outbreak response, control strategies, vaccines, prevention and biosecurity .
FAO Avian Influenza Disease Card
FAO Avian Influenza Videos for chickens, turkeys, ostrich, diagnosis, sampling and disposal.
Prevention and Control of Avian Flu in small scale poultry.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
A guide for paraprofessionals. This is an excellent guide written in simple terms with illustrations. Spanish French Russian Kyrgystan
Biosecurity for the Birds
from US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Report Sick Birds! If your birds show signs of AI or may have been exposed to birds with the disease, you should notify Federal or State animal health officials or in the U.S. call 1–866–536–7593 (toll-free) or your local agricultural extension agent.
Brochures in english and spanish
from US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline 1800 675 888 (Australia wide)
List of Species Affected by H5N1 Avian Influenza
by USGS National Wildlife Health Center
Referenced reports of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in wildlife and domestic animals
H5N1 Influenza virus in cats and other mammals
Role of cats in virus transmission Research has shown that domestic cats may die from H5N1 virus. Also horizontal transmission has been proven. However, it is unlikely that cats play a role in the natural transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. Cat infections occasionally occur in association with H5N1 outbreaks in domestic or wild birds, e.g. when cats feed on infected birds. Experimental/infected cats shed the virus via the respiratory and intestinal tract, and may therefore transmit the virus to other cats. Naturally infected cats are thus in theory, able to spread the virus.
The ability of catching the H5N1 virus is not restricted to cats. Reports show infection in tigers, leopards and civets. Also dogs and pigs may become infected with the virus. Given the broad host spectrum of the H5N1virus, the possibility that also other wild or domesticated mammals including seals, mustelidae or furbearing animals, become infected by contacting infected animals is present. All carnivores could become infected through eating infected poultry or infected wild birds.
Recommendations in areas where H5N1 HPAI has been diagnosed or is suspected in poultry or wild birds:
- Report to the local veterinary authority any evidence of significant bird mortality both wild and domestic.
- Be especially vigilant for any dead or sick cats and report such findings to the local veterinarian.
- Make sure contact between cats and wild birds or poultry (or their faeces) is avoided and/or keep cats inside.
- If cats bring a sick or dead bird inside the house, put on plastic gloves and dispense of the bird in plastic bags for collection by local veterinary animal handlers.
- Keep stray cats outside the house and avoid contact with them.
- If cats show breathing problems or nasal discharge, a veterinarian should be consulted.
- Do not touch or handle any sick-looking or dead cat (or other animal) and report to the authorities.
- Wash hands with water and soap regularly and especially after handling animals and cleaning their litter boxes or coming in contact with faeces or saliva.
- Dogs can only be taken outside the premises if kept restraint.
- Do not feed any water birds.
- Disinfect (e.g. with bleach 2–3 %) cages or other hardware with which sick animals have been transported or been in contact with.
- Wash animal blankets with soap or any other commercial detergent.
Information for veterinarians
Avian influenza in other animal species Hosts: Wildbird hosts for H5N1 in order of importance are probably Anatidae (ducks, geese, swans), Charadriiform (gulls and shorebirds) and Passeriform (sparrows and starling). Lately swans have been found infected with H5N1 in a number of European countries (e.g. Austria, Germany, France and Romania, etc.). In poultry, both aquatic and terrestrial species become infected but the virus is particularly aggressive in chicken.
Carnivores: can become infected, after consuming infected poultry that succumbed to the disease. To date no H5N1 clinical cases of dogs have been reported but in an unpublished study carried out in 2005 by the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok, researchers tested 629 village dogs and 111 cats in the Suphan Buri district of central Thailand. Out of these, 160 dogs and 8 cats had antibodies to H5N1, indicating that they were infected with the virus or had been infected in the past. An eqiune virus has recently shown up in dogs. This inter-species re-assortment is not uncommon for type A influenza viruses.
Pigs are known “mixing vessels” for different influenza virus subtypes and therefore present a risk for avian influenza virus re-asserting with a human influenza virus into a strain more apt to infect humans. Regarding the present H5N1 subtype, studies conducted in pigs in Vietnam yielded 8 animals out of the 3000 investigated pigs seropositive. None of the animals had any clinical signs and it was not possible to isolate any virus.
Ruminants appear at lower risk. So far no cattle have been identified as carrying any influenza type A virus. Horses are susceptible to Influenza viruses but so far mainly H3N8 have been identified. Regular vaccination is carried out. Experimentally mice can be infected but their role in natural transmission has not been established.
Public health implications: Humans and other mammals need to come in contact with large amounts of virus to become infected. In case of an infection with H5N1, mammals and humans apparently only shed small amounts of virus, contributing to reduced risk of spread among themselves. Recent data from experimentally infected cats’ evidenced extra-respiratory replication of the H5N1 and excretion of virus in faeces of cats need to be taken into consideration. Hygienic practices need to be re-enforced, frequent washing of hands with water and soap especially after handling animals, cleaning cat litter boxes as well as before and after the preparation of food.
Occupational health and safety: Veterinarians and their staff are specifically at risk of coming into contact with infected cats, in case the disease becomes more widespread among this species. Normally, veterinarians and their staff engage in frequent hand washing and disinfect examination tables and instruments to reduce the general risk of disease transmission among their patients and to protect the persons present in the consultation room from eventual exposure.
Advice for veterinarians The following is advised for veterinarians:
- Be ware of possibility to receive (sick) cats infected with H5N1.
Take hygienic measures when handling sick cats (gloves and surgical masks).
- Take deep oro-pharyngeal swabs of suspected animals (e.g. animals with respiratory problems) and sent them to the laboratory clearly indicating the type of examination requested Support cases to be reported to veterinary authorities.
- Inform owners of suspected animals and provide them with clear and practical information, avoiding creating any panic among cat owners or the general public.
- Advise veterinarians - contact the Veterinary Authorities in their respective countries for specific instructions.
Merck Veterinary Manual on Avian Influenza
Introduction only, as of July 19, 2006 [http://www.birdflubits.info/ | Bird Flu Information Center] topic discussed here