Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Indiana University.
Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.
Routine tests for human influenza A will be
positive in patients with bird flu but are not specific for the avian virus. To
make a specific diagnosis of bird flu, specialized tests are needed. In the
United States, local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention can provide access to the specialized testing. The virus can be
detected in sputum by several methods, including culture or polymerase chain
reaction (PCR). Culture should be done in laboratories that have an appropriate
biosafety certification. PCR detects nucleic acid from the influenza A virus.
Specialized PCR testing is available in reference laboratories to identify avian
strains.
During and after infection with bird flu, the body makes antibodies against
the virus. Blood tests can detect these antibodies, but this requires one sample
at the onset of disease and another sample several weeks later. Thus, results
are not available until the patient has recovered or died.
What is the treatment for bird flu?
Because of the small number of human
cases, it has not been possible to conduct rigorous treatment trials for bird
flu. The current recommendation from the World Health Organization is to use an
antiviral medication called oseltamivir (Tamiflu). In Sept. 2011, the CDC
stated the following: "Two other antiviral medications, oseltamivir and
zanamivir, would probably work to treat influenza caused by H5N1 virus, but
additional studies still need to be done to demonstrate their effectiveness."
What is the prognosis of bird flu?
The prognosis in human cases of bird flu
remains poor. Many cases occur in people who are poor, live in rural areas in
underdeveloped countries, and do not have access to modern intensive care units
or antiviral therapy. Approximately 60% of people diagnosed with bird flu
eventually die from the disease.
Most sore throats are caused by viruses or mechanical causes (such as mouth breathing) and can be treated successfully at home. However, a person should be seen by a health care professional if they have a sore throat that has a rapid onset, and is associated with a fever or tenderness of the front of the neck; a sore throat that causes the person to have difficulty swallowing (not just pain swallowing) or breathing; or if a sore throat lasts for more than a week.
Diarrhea is a change is the frequency and looseness of bowel movements. Cramping, abdominal pain, and the sensation of rectal urgency are all symptoms of diarrhea. Absorbents and anti-motility medications are used to treat diarrhea.
Chronic cough is a cough that does not go away and is generally a symptom of another disorder such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, sinus infection, cigarette smoking, GERD, postnasal drip, bronchitis, pneumonia, medications, and less frequently tumors or other lung disease. Treatment of chronic cough is dependant upon the cause.
Nausea is an uneasiness of the stomach that often precedes vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases, but they are symptoms of many conditions. The causes of vomiting differ according to age, and treatment depends upon the cause of nausea and vomiting.
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
Influenza (flu) is a respiratory illness caused by a virus. Flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. The flu may be prevented with an annual influenza vaccination.
Novel H1N1 influenza A virus infection (swine flu) is an infection that generally is transferred from an infected pig to a human, however there have been reported cases where infection has occured with no contact with infected pigs. Symptoms of swine flu are "flu-like" and include fever, cough, and sore throat. Treatment is generally with the antibiotics oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza).
Travelers should prepare for their trip by visiting their physician to get the proper vaccinations and obtain the necessary medication if they have a medical condition or chronic disease. Diseases that travelers may pick up from contaminated water or food, insect or animal bites, or from other people include malaria, meningococcal meningitis, yellow fever, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, polio, and cholera.
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