Avian Bird Flu Symptoms

The annual flu season causes us to be more aware of symptoms that we might be experiencing. It leads us to question whether we have the common cold, the flu or perhaps even bird flu. If you have some uncomfortable symptoms and are worried that you may have contracted avian influenza, you should first consider exactly how you feel and what you have been doing in recent days.

Symptoms: Cough and Fever

• One of the more common flu symptoms is coughing. If you have any type of flu, it is likely that your cough is dry and unproductive. If you have a hacking cough that is productive, you probably have a cold and not the flu. If you are also experiencing fever, you may not have a cold since such a symptom is rare with colds. A combined dry cough and fever might lead you to consider the possibility of flu. It is not only bird flu that gives someone these symptoms, but rather all types of flu.

Symptoms: Soreness In The Muscles

• If you have muscle aches in addition to fever and dry cough, you should see your doctor to check whether you have the flu. Muscle soreness and aching is one of the flu symptoms if it is mild to severe. Slight aches might simply indicate the common cold. A person with aching shoulders, joints, muscles and general discomfort might find herself overtaken by the bird flu virus, but it is also possible that the person has the common flu or other types of the flu.

Symptom: Eye Infection

• One symptom sets the common flu apart from avian influenza, and that is eye infection. If the whites of your eyes appear red or pink and feel itchy or painful, you may have an eye infection, or conjunctivitis. If the infection appears in combination with other flu symptoms, you ought to ask yourself whether you have come into contact with poultry or poultry products recently. If so, you should go to a doctor immediately.

Time Frame

• Scientists are unsure about the exact incubation period of the avian influenza virus, however they generally see signs of the illness within one to five days after the person comes into contact with the virus. If you have flu symptoms, ask yourself whether you haven been near chickens, ducks, turkeys or their products during this time period. If not, it is unlikely that you have avian flu. Most cases of infection result from direct contact with these animals or animal products.

Complications and Considerations

• While there are many strains of the flu, the true avian influenza virus is rare. More prevalent are the types of flu that can occur when the bird flu virus combines with a human virus. The combined virus created a very contagious strain of flu which is not true bird flu. This complicates the definition of bird flu. A person with true avian influenza could suffer from viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress, which is the main cause of fatalities resulting from the virus. Such events could happen with other strains of the human and bird virus combination and so the exact definition of bird flu can be complicated. Mainly, the person ought to consider where he has been and whether he has been cooking chicken, turkey and eggs thoroughly.