Today, people around the world have been witnessing a major health crisis and health professionals are working day and night to control the spread of avian flu. Several Asian countries have reported cases of avian influenza, commonly referred to as bird flu or avian flu, in their domestic and wild bird populations.

Avian influenza is an infection caused by avian flu viruses, which occur naturally among birds. They are of different subtypes like H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 according to the protein type they combine with. But the identified subtype for the recent bird flu outbreak is H5N1; it has crossed the species barrier and has infected humans. Avian flu is a communicable disease among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them. Influenza virus gets transmitted to the domesticated birds if direct contact is made with the infected fowl or poultry, or through their saliva, nasal secretion or feces, and sharing of same water or feed that have been contaminated with the virus. The current strain of H5N1 influenza is considered to be highly pathogenic. Laboratory studies have confirmed that isolates from this virus have a high pathogenicity and can cause severe disease in humans. The H5N1 virus has raised concerns about a potential human pandemic because:

• It is virulent • It is being transmitted by migratory birds • It can be transmitted from birds to mammals and humans, and • Like other influenza viruses, it continues to evolve.

Symptoms of avian influenza in humans are fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases, and other severe and life-threatening complications. The fatality of the infection will depend mostly on the state of the immune system of an infected person. It is very difficult to prepare a vaccine for a pandemic outbreak of influenza virus; and till-now a specific anti-avian influenza vaccine for humans is not readily available. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. have suggested that the anti-viral medication oseltamivir phosphate, with the brand name Tamiflu, may be effective in treating avian influenza. With online buying option, you can buy Tamiflu online, as it is safe, time and money saving method. Online pharmacy will give you free online consultation and discount so that you can save up to $80 when you order this drug in bulk amount. In spite of Tamiflu, U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an anti-viral drug amantadine for the treatment of H5N1 infection in adults. According to the research done by Dr. Thomas Jefferson, based at the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Italy, has shown that amantadine can prevent 61% of H5N1 cases and 25% of influenza-like illness.

There is no guarantee when the virus H5N1 becomes resistant to Tamiflu or some other anti-viral medicine. Therefore, additional studies and more research work are needed to determine the effectiveness of these medicines to safeguard the public health. Furthermore, outbreak of the flu can be prevented by quarantining the infected poultry farms and protecting the workers involved in culling process by providing proper clothing and equipment and a complete dose of anti-viral medicine.