The two main differences, besides being caused by two different viruses, would be that the H1N1/09 pandemic Swine Flu spreads very easily from human to human and is symptomatically milder than the Avian flu.
H1N1 spreads rapidly from person to person, which led to its being a pandemic in 2009-2010, while the Avian (bird) flu does not spread easily in humans. Bird flu is very rare overall, and spreads mostly from direct bird-to-human exposure. It has had extremely rare cases that spread from human-to-human but only among family members in the same households.
Swine flu has comparatively mild symptoms in most people, and causes fewer deaths than even the seasonal flu viruses usually do, while the bird flu is especially virulent and deadly with a mortality rate of 50 to 60 % of those infected.
They are both viruses that are relatively new to human infection. The pandemic swine flu (A-H1N1/09) is a new mutation and since there was no direct exposure to the virus before it was found in 2009, there was little resistance to contagion. The Avian "bird" flu (A-H5N1) is also a new virus for humans to get. Avian flu is much more rare among humans than in birds, but it is rarely transmitted to humans, and not by person to person transmission so far.
Swine flu is a mutation that caused a new subtype of influenza A. It contains genetic material from the avian flu virus, several strains of hog viruses, and human flu virus.
Here are the most common symptoms of each:
Avian flu-
~ Virus causes lung inflammation
~ Immune system over-reacts, creates a lot of white blood cells and a natural virus-fighting chemical (Cytokine)
~ Chemical runs in blood stream in such high quantities that it creates tiny holes in the blood vessels
~ Plasma leaks out of the holes and into the lungs
~ Victim drowns from the inside
Swine flu-
~ Virus is very similar to seasonal human flu
~ Starts with a bad cough and headache
~ Fever and fatigue ensue
~ After about a week, symptoms are relieved except for the fever and often the cough
~ After 24 hours of no fever, you are considered no longer contagious
On the humorous side:
As far as the care goes, with Bird flu you need to seek TWEETMENT, and for swine flu you can apply OINKMENT.
Bird flu is a general term for some strains of influenza (flu) that are
that are found in poultry and other birds. It is more properly called Avian Influenza. There are two strains of this kind of influenza virus are known to infect humans in very rare circumstances. H5N1 is one of the specific strains of bird flu that infects humans. H7N9 is the other and new strain just discovered in humans in Spring 2013.
Flu viruses are a group of RNA viruses categorized to the three main types of influenzaviruses found in humans and other animals. These are classified as Influenza Types A, B, and C. "Bird flu" refers to an illness caused by any of the many different strains of Type A flu viruses that are endemic in birds.
All known bird (or avian) flu viruses are Influenza A viruses. Inf
Today, because of the pandemic, the terms are both sometimes used interchangeably to mean the 2009 Swine Flu of the Pandemic. But, more appropriately, that virus should be called the "A-H1N1/09 Influenza" (or "Influenza A, Novel H1N1 virus"; "H1N1/09 Pandemic Flu"; or "2009 Swine Flu").
"Swine Flu" is also a name that has been used more generally (historically) to talk about an animal flu that was first identified in the 1930's and was known to have originated in hogs. Some people think it may have been present ever since the 1918 pandemic of the "Spanish Flu". It was known that the 1918 flu virus, that was so severe, had been transmitted at the time of that pandemic from humans to pigs at least in one location. Others speculate that maybe it actually all started in pigs even back prior to the 1918 pandemic, but no data to verify the speculation is available now as empirical proof. (See the related questions below about when Swine Flu started, what caused the 2009 Swine Flu, and about other names for Swine Flu).
Therefore, to be sure you understand which sub-type someone is talking about (i.e., the human Pandemic Swine Flu vs. the animal swine flu that pigs get), and to be sure that others are understanding you, in the US it is more clear to use (or look for a reference to): the year 2009, '09, "Pandemic", or "Novel" in the name for the new pandemic swine flu. In other countries there are different distinctions between the two types of swine flu, see the related question below for more on the different names in different places.
It can be confusing, since "Swine Flu" and "Influenza A H1N1" are both also used to refer to the animal flu virus started in pigs. These names also are used for the flu which some humans have occasionally gotten from pigs. And, since all these terms have been being used for all the strains of "Swine Flu", including the one causing the 2009 pandemic/"Novel" A-H1N1/09.
Here are some more clarifying facts:
H5N1 is a very dangerous virus that can and WILL kill more than half of the people that it infects. Fortunatley, it is not very infectious and is only spread by dead birds. H1N1 on the other hand is EXTREMLY easy to catch and is very infectious, capable of infecting tens of thousands of people in only a few days.
But it is very unlikely to die from it, more than 99% of all people who get it survive. Both are communicable by humans, and both have vaccines.
H5N1 "Bird Flu" (Avian Flu) is an extremely virulent influenza virus that can infect birds, occasionally pigs, rarely infections in other animals, and very rarely humans. Fortunately, it does not spread very easily. The mode of transmission is typically direct contact with birds or their urine/feces or saliva. Only extremely rare human to human transmissions have been known to occur. No instance of the virus spreading beyond a first generation of close human contacts has been reported. It does, however, have a very high mortality rate in animals and in humans (approximately 60% Death Rate in humans).
H1N2 is one of the seasonal flu types we see circulating in flu seasons. It is currently endemic in both human and pig populations. The virus does not cause more severe illness than other influenza viruses in humans and has not caused any significant increases in influenza activity compared with the other typical human influenza viruses.
H1N1 is the flu virus usually called by the swine flu name, and is endemic in pigs and also called pig flu or hog flu. People who work on farms very closely with pigs with this type of flu have been known to catch it, but not usually.
A subtype of H1N1 caused the 2009 pandemic swine flu and is known as H1N1/09. It contains genetic elements of avian flu, human flu and swine flu that combined to form the virus that went pandemic in 2009. See the related question below about what caused the 2009 swine flu for more information on how it mutated and developed.
H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 are the only known Influenza A virus subtypes currently circulating among humans. There are also Influenza B virus subtypes that can infect humans, as well as Influenza C. The most common (and the ones that cause all recent influenza pandemics) are the Influenza A viruses.
H5N1 influenza virus is an avian flu, it is often called bird flu and is more specific than "the flu". Usually when people refer to the flu they do not specify (and most often don't know) which strain of the flu it is, they use "flu" (influenza) to refer to viral respiratory infections in a more general way.
So, H5N1 is a flu, an influenza virus, but all strains and types of flu are not H5N1. For example, another subtype of influenza virus is the now well-known 2009 pandemic swine flu, which is identified as Human Influenza virus Type A-H1N1-09. There are other strains that also have the protein configuration H1N1 as the subtype (this is how they are named), and there are many strains for each of them. H1N1 viruses are the viruses that have been involved in pandemics and are commonly included in the seasonal flu vaccines.
There is no real difference in treatment for the different influenza viruses in humans, therefore, it most often is not necessary in medicine to do the lab testing to identify the specific virus involved.
H1N1 is swine flu H5N1 is chicken flu
Dogs are not susceptible to the H5N1 bird flu.
The H5N1 Virus is the Avian Flu, or otherwise recognized as the bird flu. :)
Yes. It is also known as 'Bird Flu'
Yes. To date (14-11-08) there have been 245 human deaths due to Bird flu (H5N1)
Influenza A virus H5N1, is known as "bird flu". H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and animals. A filtered and purified influenza A vaccine for humans is being developed.
It is currently known to be possible for the following to be infected with H5N1, the highly pathogenic form of "Bird Flu" that humans can get: Pigs, birds (both wild and domestic), and humans.
'Avian Influenza' is not the scientific name, the scientific name is actually Orthomyxoviridae, Influenza Type A, subtype H5N1. The common names are: Avian Influenza, bird flu, and fowl plague.
What are you talking about? You typed the same exact thing? Yes it's the same, it's Bird Flu aka Avian Flu, and technically called H5N1. Your question is confusing, it takes on the same characteristics as the following mock question. Does CONFUSING mean the same thing as confusing? Hope that helped buddy.
Avian influenza is also known as the "Bird Flu". Influenza is caused by viruses. The virus that causes avian flu is the H5N1 influenza virus.
What's the difference between bird flu and pig flu? If you have bird flu, you need tweetment. If you have swine flu, you need pig-gy
The name of the strain of virus that causes the Avian (Bird) flu is H5N1.If you are asking for the ICD-9-CM diagnosis code, the new 2010 code for the Avian flu is 488.0.
Avian Influenza, H5N1 or Avian Influenza, H7N9.