Symptoms of human infection with avian influenza

In recent years, we have often heard the words "bird flu", which has caused many people to panic when they hear the word "bird flu". In fact, we can't blame anyone, because avian influenza is so scary. We thought it was a disease that only poultry would get, but we didn't expect it to be transmitted to humans. In addition, no avian influenza vaccine has been developed so far, which has caused more panic among people.

There is another important reason why people are panicking, and that is that there is currently no specific medicine to cure avian influenza, so if you accidentally get infected with avian influenza, you may lose your life in serious cases. So, what are the symptoms when people are infected with the avian influenza virus? Let’s talk about it in detail below.

Common symptoms of avian influenza in poultry: Common symptoms include depression, reduced feed consumption, and weight loss in sick chickens; increased nesting habits in hens and decreased egg production; mild to severe respiratory symptoms, including coughing, sneezing, and excessive tearing; swelling of the head and face, neurological disorders, and diarrhea. Any of these symptoms may occur alone or in different combinations. Sometimes the disease breaks out so quickly that chickens are found dead without showing any obvious symptoms.

Clinical symptoms of avian influenza infection in humans:

(1) Acute onset. Early symptoms are similar to those of common influenza, mainly fever, runny nose, nasal congestion, cough, sore throat, headache, and general discomfort. Conjunctivitis may be seen in some patients;

(2) The body temperature usually remains above 39°C, and the fever lasts from 1 to 7 days, usually 2 to 3 days;

(3) Some patients may experience digestive symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and loose watery stools;

(4) Half of the patients had signs of pulmonary consolidation. Lymphocytes were mostly decreased. Bone marrow puncture showed active cell proliferation, reactive histiocytosis and hemorrhagic phagocytosis. Some patients had elevated ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and negative bacterial culture of throat swabs;

(5) Chest X-rays showed unilateral or bilateral pneumonia in half of the patients, and a few had pleural effusion.

After being infected with avian influenza, there will be symptoms of fever, which usually lasts for three or four days, and up to seven days. In addition to fever, infection with avian influenza is also accompanied by symptoms of sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, muscle aches, and other physical discomforts.

In addition to the above cold symptoms, some people who are infected with avian influenza may also experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, loose stools, nausea and other symptoms. If you feel unwell with fever and cough after being infected with avian influenza, you must pay attention. If you do not treat it in time, it may turn into pneumonia. Once the pneumonia develops seriously, it may turn into complications such as pulmonary hemorrhage, pleural effusion, shock, etc., which may put your life in danger.

In daily life, when we hear that chicken cannot be eaten, it is basically because avian influenza is endangering humans again. But now everyone does not need to worry too much, because although there is no avian influenza vaccine, current medicine has basically controlled avian influenza, so as long as the treatment is timely, it can be cured.