Avian influenza, or “bird flu”, is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. Avian influenza viruses are highly species-specific, but have, on rare occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans.

Animal Health

As of date, more than 250 million chickens have died from Avian Influenza or have had to be killed to stop the spread of the virus . Farmers and poultry producers have suffered losses amounting to billions of dollars.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) has been actively working with Governments to improve the control of avian influenza by supporting them in devising mid to long term control strategies, ensuring that the virus is eliminated where it is detected. This reduces the economic losses among poultry and - by limiting the amounts or circulating H5N1 virus - also reduces the likelihood of virus mutation that could trigger a human to human transmission. FAO works closely with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in to prepare a global plan for the progressive control of HPAI. For more detailed information on HPAI, including global disease distribution maps, outbreak maps, and the work of FAO and OIE, please click on the above links for their websites.

Human Health

While Avian Influenza is primarily an animal disease which has not yet resulted in sustained human to human transmission; as all influenza viruses have the ability to mutate, scientists are concerned the virus could be able to infect people and spread easily from one person to another. The widespread circulation of avian influenza virus in animals increases this risk.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working with governments to investigate human cases of H5N1 infection, check for human to human transmission, and prepare to detect, and then respond to, the start of an influenza pandemic. For more information on the human health aspects of Avian Influenza, please visit the WHO website.