Bird flu discovered in United States no risk to humans
From Wolf Blitzer Reports' Jennifer Coggiola in Washington:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Bird flu has killed 18 people in Southeast Asia so far. But for Americans, who eat an average of 80 pounds of chicken a year, it's brought new unjustified fears to the dinner table.
It's been a common sight and a necessary precaution overseas, but this weekend, the killing was in Delaware.
Twelve thousand farm chickens were destroyed after two birds tested positive with the bird flu last week.
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It's the latest scare for meat-eating Americans, but the Delaware chickens' strain of the bird virus, called H7, carries no known risk to humans, according to health officials.
It's a different strain that's wreaking havoc on farms across Southeast Asia, where more than 50 millions birds have been slaughtered.
The H5N1 virus is an infectious disease, with a nearly 100 percent mortality rate among the most vulnerable birds -- chickens and turkeys.
"In chickens, the virus causes a systemic infection, so every single organ is compromised," explains Dr. Daniel Perez, assistant professor of virology in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.
Because it mutates so easily and quickly and spreads from animal to animal, it's especially dangerous in countries like China where less-modern facilities require more contact between animals and humans.
It's that contact that health experts believe could have caused the first human outbreak six years ago in Hong Kong that killed six people, and prompted the slaughter of Hong Kong's entire poultry population -- nearly 1.5 million birds in three days.
At this point, all human fatalities from H5N1 are the results of human contact with infected birds and there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission. Efforts, though, already in the works for a vaccine case.
"We're being vigilant in finding a vaccine just in case," says Dr. Perez.
Health officials today said they've tested birds in a three-mile radius from the infected farms in Delaware. All came back negative. They are optimistic this news will ease any restrictions, and bring about the lifting of the current ban of U.S. poultry exports in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong will soon be lifted.
