Avian Influenza (AI), also known as the bird flu, remains a serious public health threat in many parts of the world. The Influenza A virus, which is endemic in birds, appears in many forms and can cause severe illness or death in birds, other animal species and humans. In 2013, China became the first country to report human and bird cases of a newly emerged subtype of the AI virus called H7N9.
So far, the majority of cases have been attributed to direct contact with poultry (e.g. chickens, turkeys, ducks) or contaminated environments such as wet markets or areas where poultry is maintained. The virus does not seem to transmit easily among humans and sustained human-to-human transmission has not been reported. However, it is difficult to assess the risk to humans since H7N9 infections do not cause severe disease in poultry and the potential for “silent” transmission among poultry is high.
Most people infected with H7N9 suffer from severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia. Symptoms can include fever, cough and shortness of breath.
The H7N9 virus is mostly contained in China; however other types of AI viruses continue to emerge globally. For example, two separate virus strains, H5N2 and H5N8, have recently surfaced in North America, though neither virus has caused any human infection to date. Another common subtype of AI is H5N1 – an extremely deadly virus that caused serious outbreaks in domestic poultry in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Since 2003, this subtype has infected 650 individuals across 15 countries with a fatality rate of 60% and has experienced a slight reemergence over the past several years.
AI viruses have the potential to change and become transmissible among humans, triggering a public health emergency at any moment. With an increase in global trade and travel, a serious outbreak can have devastating consequences on local and global economies. Critical to any prevention strategy is a national emergency preparedness plan.
In this installment of Trending Topics, the Health COMpass offers several SBCC tools and interventions that can assist ministries of health and program managers prepare for possible outbreaks. The tools below are wide-ranging and support emergency preparedness planning and risk management as well as communication strategies for promoting hygiene and safe preparation and handling of poultry.
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References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza type A viruses and subtypes.
United States Department of Agriculture. (December 17, 2014). High pathogenic H5 avian influenza confirmed in wild birds in washington state h5n2 found in northern pintail ducks & h5n8 found in captive gyrfalcons.
World Health Organization. Avian influenza. Fact sheet: Updated March 2014.
World Health Organization. (February, 14, 2014). Frequently asked questions on human infection caused by the avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
World Health Organization. (October 2, 2014). WHO risk assessment: Human infections with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus. Summary of surveillance and investigation findings.
Banner photo: A Lady Lama distributes H1N1 masks to a fellow Lama at Mahabodhi Temple in Gaya, India, as swine flu victims increase in India at an alarming rate.© 2009 Ayan Banerjee, Courtesy of Photoshare
This Guide provides an overview of the advocacy process and its components –from planning and information gathering, to evaluating the success of advocacy efforts – and suggests strategic activities and messages that can be used to reach different audiences.
This guide is to help local leaders and community organizers bring together the community to help plan for disease outbreaks and other emergencies.
This toolkit is a resource for those dealing with natural disasters. It is designed to help program managers to prepare, plan, implement and monitor behavior change communication initiatives supporting health, hygiene and child protection efforts in emergencies.
Easy to follow checklist for communicating with the media during public health emergencies.
The seven steps are:
Participatory action research (PAR) is a type of qualitative research that allows the researchers and community members to work together to improve some aspect of community life or solve an area of local concern.
This question and answer style fact sheet offers basic information about Avian Flu transmission, care, treatment, and prevention.
Topics include:
This is a colorfully illustrated story about a 15-year-old girl who raises chickens to help pay school fees. It includes, woven within the story, messages about handling chickens, handwashing, preventing the transmission of Avian Flu, how to protect a farm's flock from contracting it, and involving village leadership in Avian Flu activities. T
Includes key facts, background, clinical features, antiviral treatment, risk factors, pandemic potential, and WHO's response.
These TV spots were developed as part of the Communication for Healthy Living project in Egypt, and address correct handwashing, dealing with infected birds, and general information about Avian Flu.
This 1.5 minute TV spot explains how AI is passed from birds to humans, and how it is passed between humans. It offers practical advice for prevention, including how to cook food, hand washing, and other prevention techniques related to chicken farming.
This leaflet explains that even if bird flu is not currently active in the country, it is important to be preapred so that citizens can help prevent an epidemic.The best way to ensure that people protect themselves, their families and chickens against bird flu is to make sure they are alert to the dangers, and aware of actions to take and behavi
Flyer outlining five steps citizens can take to help stop bird flu:
The goals of this communication strategy are:
This is the US Department of Health's main website for the general population, to learn about the latest flu outbreaks, symptoms, treatment, and prevention.
Website includes sections on:
This website is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Breakthrough-ACTION Project, supported by USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health, under Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-17-00017 with the Johns Hopkins University.
Breakthrough-ACTION is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU∙CCP). The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of JHU∙CCP. The information provided on this website is not official U.S. Government information and does not necessarily represent the views or positions of USAID, the United States Government, or The Johns Hopkins University.