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Medical Author:

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

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.

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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

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.

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Medical Editor:

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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In this Article

• Bird flu facts
• What is bird flu?
• What causes bird flu?
• What are risk factors for bird flu?
• What are bird flu symptoms and signs?
• How is bird flu diagnosed?
• What is the treatment for bird flu?
• What are the complications of bird flu?
• What is the prognosis of bird flu?
• Can bird flu be prevented with a vaccine?
• Where can people find more information about bird flu?
• Patient Comments: Bird Flu - Symptoms
• Bird Flu Index

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; the CDC is a primary source for available tests for the newest strains of bird flu.

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.

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 September 2011, the CDC stated the following: "Two other antiviral medications, oseltamivir and zanamivir (Relenza), would probably work to treat influenza caused by H5N1 virus, but additional studies still need to be done to demonstrate their effectiveness." Patients often need intensive supportive care. It is too early to say if antivirals are effective against H7N9 bird flu.