Can You Die If You Become Infected? in Indonesia

Can people get the bird flu from eggs and milk? Can you die if you become infected? Will this be the next pandemic?

Here's what we know about bird flu in humans. Australians are advised not to touch wild or domestic birds suspected to have bird flu and to wash their hands after touching any bird. ( David Gray ) The detection of a deadly strain of bird flu in seals in Australia may have you wondering about the risk to humans.

Although H5N1 has previously spread to mammals elsewhere in the world, the chance of people catching it is considered low by Australia's Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Since a dominant new clade, H5N1 2.3.4.4b, emerged in Europe six years ago, there have been just 141 reported cases of H5N1 globally, including 24 deaths. CDC director-general Zoe Wainer said bird flu rarely transmitted from animals to people and spreading between people was also very rare.

While the current risk of being infected is low, with no human cases in Australia, scientists are studying the potential of the virus to mutate and cause a human pandemic in the future. Raina MacIntyre, the head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute, said flu viruses mutated rapidly and the H5N1 strain had already changed a lot since it emerged. A long-nosed fur seal was the first mammal to die from H5N1 bird flu in Australia.

( iNaturalist: Greg Smith / Long-nosed fur seal / CC BY-NC 4.0 ) That's because the virus has been hopping around a lot of different species beyond birds. "There's much greater opportunities for mixing between humans and infected birds or animals, Professor MacIntyre said. So how can you catch H5N1, what are the symptoms and how can you help protect yourself if it takes hold in Australia?

So far, most infections have come from close contact with farm animals. Seventy-one of the H5N1 cases in humans in the past six years have been in the US and mostly among poultry and dairy farm workers. Only a handful of people in the US have been infected from contact with wild animals or unknown sources.

Professor MacIntyre said there were a couple of ways people could get bird flu from poultry. "The virus can be transmitted from infected poultry by direct contact or aerosolisation of any poultry components including faeces, respiratory secretions, and contaminated dust in coops, as well, she said. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) warns human infection may happen when someone touches the virus and then touches their eyes, nose or mouth.

Dairy cows became a surprise carrier of H5N1 in the US with more than 1,000 herds experiencing outbreaks as of June. ( Loren Elliott ) Raw milk from infected dairy cows is also thought to be a key transmission risk if workers come into contact with contaminated milk and touch their face or it splashes their eyes. Veterinary epidemiologist Jason Lombard, from Colorado State University, said how exactly the virus moved from cow-to-cow or people was still unknown.

"Milk, which has the highest concentration of the virus, is believed to be a key component of disease transmission but studies evaluating transmission of disease during milking has not been able to replicate disease transmission," he said. Human-to-human transmission of bird flu viruses is rare. But Professor MacIntyre said there was a report from Indonesia of this happening with a different clade of H5N1 in 2006. "This occurred in Sumatra in a remote area, where a family cluster of eight cases occurred," she said.

It was possibly because of the remote location that it died out. There have been no reported cases in the world of humans getting infected with H5N1 from consuming eggs or milk. Australian CDC advice said it was safe to eat properly handled and cooked meat or eggs. According to the US CDC, it could be possible to get infected by eating uncooked or undercooked poultry and eggs.