Preventing H5N1 Bird Flu: Avoid Exposure, Wear Protection, and Report Sick Animals

The best way to prevent H5N1 bird flu is to avoid sources of exposure whenever you can.

How people catch it

People are most often infected after close, prolonged, unprotected contact — without respiratory and eye protection — with infected birds, dairy cows, other animals or contaminated surfaces. Anyone with close or long contact with infected animals or their surroundings is at greater risk.

Infected animals shed avian influenza A viruses in their saliva, mucus, feces and other body fluids, such as cow milk. People become infected when enough virus reaches the eyes, nose or mouth, or is breathed in:

• usually through direct contact with sick animals;
• sometimes from virus in the air — in droplets or possibly dust;
• or by touching something with virus on it, then touching the mouth, eyes or nose.

Protect yourself

• Keep your distance: avoid direct contact with sick or dead wild birds, poultry, dairy cows and other animals, and watch them only from afar.
• Wear protection: if you must be in direct or close contact with sick or dead birds or other animals, wear the recommended personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Don't touch contaminated materials — such as animal litter or bedding — soiled with saliva, mucus or feces from birds, cows or other animals with confirmed or suspected infection.
• Skip raw milk: don't touch or consume raw milk or raw milk products, especially from animals with confirmed or suspected infection or in areas with infected herds.

Who's most at risk

People whose jobs or hobbies bring them close to birds or other infected animals face the greatest risk. Others who may come into contact with infected animals include hunters and keepers of backyard or hobby flocks. CDC also has guidance for backyard flock owners, and USDA's APHIS covers biosecurity for backyard flocks.

For hunters

• Don't handle wild birds or other animals that are obviously sick or found dead.
• Don't eat, drink or put anything in your mouth while cleaning and handling game.
• See the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's safety guidelines for handling wildlife and CDC's page on hunters and bird flu.

If you find a sick or dead bird or animal

1. Check local and state rules on collecting dead animals and testing sick or dead ones.
2. Report it: health departments or state wildlife agencies can tell you how. Report sick animals or unusual deaths to your state veterinarian or USDA's toll-free line, 1-866-536-7593. Wildlife agencies routinely investigate reports, which can help catch illnesses like West Nile virus or H5N1 early.
3. Don't get close unprotected — without respiratory and eye protection — to sick or dead wild birds, poultry, other domestic birds or other animals.
4. If you're told to throw the body away, never use bare hands: wear gloves, or turn a plastic bag inside out to pick it up, put it in a garbage bag, and put that in your regular trash.

If you get sick after exposure

If you fall ill within 10 days of contact with infected or possibly infected birds or animals:

• Isolate at home, away from your household.
• Stay out of work or school until you're shown not to have avian influenza A.
• Notify your local or state health department, which can help with testing, monitor you and tell you when isolation can end.

CDC's exposure handout has advice for different groups who become sick after contact with infected animals.

Food safety

• Undercooked poultry or beef, or raw (unpasteurized) milk, can make you sick.
• Cooking poultry, eggs and beef to the right internal temperature kills bacteria and viruses, avian influenza A included.
• Pasteurization kills them in milk. For your health and your family's, always choose pasteurized milk and products made with it. More: Food Safety and Bird Flu.

Traveling

CDC does not advise against travel to any country or U.S. state because avian influenza A has been found in wild birds, poultry, other animals or people. Where H5N1 is spreading in animals or people, travelers should:

• avoid poultry farms, bird markets and other places where live poultry are raised, kept or sold — or, if you must go, wear protective equipment and don't touch poultry or other birds;
• stay away from dairy farms with sick cows unless wearing protective equipment;
• not eat raw or undercooked poultry, and wash your hands after touching it;
• practice good hygiene;
• see a doctor if you fall ill during or after the trip, and say you may have been exposed to infected birds.

More: Avian Flu and Traveler's Health.

Vaccination

The seasonal flu vaccine won't protect against H5N1 bird flu, but it is still recommended every year for nearly everyone 6 months and older. People who work with, or are often around, infected or possibly infected birds or animals should get it: it lowers the chance and severity of seasonal flu, and may reduce the very rare risk of catching a human and an avian virus at once. Such dual infections could let the viruses swap genes, producing a new influenza A virus that could be a serious public health concern.

The U.S. government is developing H5N1 vaccines in case they're needed. Clinicians, laboratory staff and public health workers can find current guidance in CDC's Avian Influenza: Information for Health Professionals and Laboratorians.

Sources

Based on "Preventing Bird Flu Infections," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.