has anyone ever had the hystoplasmosis that is called something like the bird flu that affects the lungs and?
542637
NO. It is not a virus, it is caused by the spores of a fungus that is found in bird droppings when they dry up and turn into dust and you inhale the spores.\nMy textbook says that it is a disease caused by the inhalation of spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, most often asymptomatic but occasionally producing acute pneumonia or an influenzalike illness and spreading to other organs and systems in the body.
203990
Have you heard, watched, or read ANYTHING about the bird flu?!
276657
Bird flu cannot go from one person to another, in fact only people to have died of bird flu have worked directly in the bird industry. If the bird flu mutates then it will be transmittable between people.
1154526
ONLY WHEN THEY BREATHE !!!  YES YES YES!!\n\nPlease see your doctor and your infection control nurse at work.  You will need to be treated and at least wear a mask while working.  I would advise you to take a leave of absence.  Hey, you don't want to spread this virus any farther to unsuspecting people, do you??? It could kill them...and you!   Please get treatment asap!
261104
toxoplasmosis--anyone with depleted immune system shouldn't change kitty litter--little kids, pregnant women...
977961
a disease caused by eating birds that have the virus
120947
humans, whose blame is the bird flu ...
489186
it affects your lungs thats it
269690
As their lungs filled … the patients became short of breath and increasingly cyanotic. After gasping for several hours they became delirious and incontinent, and many died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth. It was a dreadful business.\n\n--Isaac Starr, 3rd year medical student, University of Pennsylvania, 1918.\n\nAll the genes of all influenza viruses in the world are being maintained in aquatic birds, and periodically they transmit to other species... The 1918 viruses are still being maintained in the bird reservoir. So even though these viruses are very ancient, they still have the capacity to evolve, to acquire new genes, new hosts. The potential is still there for the catastrophe of 1918 to happen again.\n\n--Dr. Robert Webster, Influenza Expert, Present Day.\n\nThe pair of quotes presented above were used to begin and end a short essay I wrote many years ago on The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. Isaac Starr's words offer powerful testimonial to the harsh lethality of a killer stain of influenza, and Dr. Robert Websters observation reminds us that it would be dangerous to regard the events of 1918 as an isolated slice of history that we can safely file away and forget. \n\nIn the early part of 1995, as I cast around in search of the disease that would ultimately prove to be the true villian of the science thriller I was planning to write, influenza was scarcely on the radar scope of anyone but virologists specializing in the field of emerging diseases. Because influenza exists in the human population in an ever-present but relatively benign form, changing just a little from year to year, we tend, quite mistakenly, to think we understand the nature of the threat that it presents. \nBird Flu cannot be eradicated, we must learn to live with it\nDespite the apparent "novelty" of a strain of bird flu that can sweep across the globe and kill not only the domesticated foul that carries the virus causing the pandemic, but also those humans unfortunate enough to get too close to the sick birds they tend, finding influenza in domesticated birds is not the least bit uncommon. \n\nThe natural reservoir for influenza virus is in fact the intestines of water fowl. In particular, ducks habor the virus, and suffer no ill effects from doing so. Because these migratory birds are always on the move, and because they shed virus in the waterways that they inhabit, influenza virus travels widely and is easily transmitted from bird to bird. Because of this, domesticated birds, like the turkey and the chicken, which cross paths with the virus, become infected and habor the potential to transmit the virus to humans (for example, virus secreted onto the surface of eggs could end up infecting egg handlers-- for this reason, if bird handlers notice any of the following symptons in their birds they should immediately notify Federal or State animal health officials: sudden death; lack of energy and appetite; decreased egg production; soft-shelled or misshapen eggs; swelling; purple discoloration; nasal discharge; coughing, sneezing; lack of coordination and diarrhea). \n\nOften an intermediate host, the pig, is involved in the cross-species transmission of influenza. When this happens, the result is referred to as Swine Flu. Even so, the source of the virus is generally aquatic birds. \n\nMost strains of bird flu do not cross species and end up infecting humans. However the H5N1 strain that has in the last decade been known to infect humans, and kill them in 5 out of every 10 cases, clearly has surmounted the first of two barriers that must be cleared before a bird flu pandemic can take hold in the human population. The second barrier will be surmounted when this strain acquires the ability to jump from one human to another. This may never happen, and hopefully will not. But based on the history of pandemic flu, it seems more likely that this is just a matter of time.
172490
Human flu symptoms are:\n\n    * fever\n    * cough\n    * sore throat\n    * muscle aches\n    * conjunctivitis\n\nCases of bird flu are more likely to cause breathing problems and pneumonia, and can be fatal.
476345
no, but it can aggravate them. For example, i have had pneumonia twice because my lungs are weak and prone to that, also I frequently get bronchitis.
509996
No, it's all a load of ****. Bird flu affects birds, but there is no risk to humans, unless you're in a job with high degrees of exposure to the animals and their droppings. There's been 113 deaths world wide, but NONE of these cases were transmitted from person to person.
888781
ever had pneumonia? I had the same thing but let it go on too long. landed in hospital. bed ridden for better than 2 wks,  it starts as congestion then leads to pneumonia. seek docs advice.
1155222
The bird flu has not been spread outside Asia yet to my knowledge. It is possible from research studies of the Bird Flu that it could become airborne, spread through breathing, if that happens, a world panic would occur. Hopefully it doesn't and researchers will find a cure for it.
181894
its called leukocytosis = infection
382519
Yes. I had it in 1991. I caught it at Club Med in St.Lucia, French West Indies. It started with a horrible headache which got worse and worse, lots of nausea, pain all down my spine. I was hospitalized for 2 weeks and not supposed to fly for two months. I lost 30 pounds, was light sensitive, couldn't stand noise. But it isn't a fatal illness, though you wish you'd die, the pain is so horrible. It is not as contagious as the bacterial version either.\n\nYour poor, sweet wife. Give her a hug (softly) from me. I feel for her.
252513
Influenzavirus A is a genus of a family of viruses called Orthomyxoviridae in virus classification. Influenzavirus A has only one species in it; that species is called "influenza A virus". Influenza A virus causes "avian influenza" (also known as bird flu, avian flu, influenzavirus A flu, type A flu, or genus A flu). It is hosted by birds, but may infect several species of mammals. All known subtypes are endemic in birds. It was first identified in Italy in the early 1900s and is now known to exist worldwide