Cold and Flu

The chance of a domesticated bird, Parrot, Budgie, etc. getting the Avian Flu is virtually impossible. I have had a cold for the past month of having my two budgies, and I think it might possibly be allergies, but I am not ready to give them up. Since domesticated birds mainly live inside homes, and rarely get close to wild birds, the chance of them getting Avian Flu is so slim that Avian Vets don't even pay attention to it.

However there is that small chance, and if you see these symptoms your budgie might have Avian Flu:

-Diarrhea

-Heavy Breathing

-Vomiting

-Staying on bottom of cage for prolonged periods of time

-Not eating

-Sneezing Constantly

-Sleeping all the time

Avian Flu can also mutate to infect humans, (again the chance is very slim) and here are the symptoms in humans: (Most like cold symptoms)

-Headache

-Runny Nose

-Cough

-Sore Throat

If you get these symptoms see your doctor.

But you don't need to worry one bit. It is almost impossible for your budgie to catch bird flu. So, have fun with your birds and don't worry! If you live in a place that has had an outbreak of Avian Flu in wild birds like Crows and Chickens, you may want to see your doctor.

It is not one of the most common symptoms, however, with any type of flu, the cough and inflammation of the upper respiratory system can result in hoarseness or laryngitis. This can progress to the point of inability to speak. Rest your voice as much as possible, take OTC cough medicines that contain guaifenesin to loosen secretions and help you expectorate when coughing, gargle with warm salty water to soothe the throat and take analgesics for pain and inflammation of the throat. Use all OTC medicines only according to package directions and consult your pharmacist to assist you find the best choices of OTC treatments for your symptoms. If your inability to speak continues for more than a day or two, consult your primary health care professional for advice.

If you have cold or flu symptoms with the rash, it could be swine flu. It would appear to be an infectious process since both of you have it. Contact your health care professional for advice. If it is swine flu and you are a candidate for anti-viral Tamiflu, it must be given within the first 48 hours of symptoms to have maximum efficacy. Fever with rash should always be reported to your doctor.

High fever should be investigated by a physician. Sustained high fever will cause permanent brain damage and even death if over 105 degrees F. In children under 18 years of age do not give aspirin or any compound with salisylates. If the fever is from a virus, aspirin can cause Reyes Syndrome. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprophen (Motrin) are better choices. Sometimes a cool rag moistened with rubbing alcohol will give some relief but be careful not to inhale fumes or get in the eyes. The old fashioned remedy is an ice bath. Depending on a patient's cardiac status, ice baths may be dangerous.

There are alternative treatments for fevers and sore throats that involve hydrotherapy..an alternation of warm rags to the abdomen and chest followed by ice cold rags. This therapy should only be performed by skilled physicians such as naturopaths and other holistic physicians.

Sore Throat Cough Running nose Sneeze Vioce Loss Drowsiness

No, the 2009 pandemic swine flu (A-H1N1/09) is thought to have begun in Mexico. The types of flu that mutated to become this pandemic flu do include one of the Asian forms of the H1N1 that pigs get, but the location of the first cases of H1N1/09 was Mexico. See the related questions for more information.

Words " Antigenic Determinant " itself yells that it is on antigen

Unlikely, unless more than gas comes out at the same time. Influenza viruses are not airborne, which would be required for the virus to somehow travel on the flatus from person to person. Unless there is much more than air and gasses expelled, it would not be possible.

When a person sneezes or coughs, droplets of respiratory secretions are expelled in a mist with some larger drops. Viruses can be contained in these respiratory droplets and that is how you can catch the flu from a person who coughs or sneezes and you breathe in the droplets from the air, or you touch a place where the droplets landed when they fell out of the air. The droplets are much heavier than air and will fall to the surfaces around the person who failed to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue (shame on them). Under most conditions, keeping a distance of around six feet from a person who is sneezing or coughing will keep you outside the distance the droplets carrying the virus can travel in the air before falling to the surrounding surfaces.

The person having flatulence is hopefully wearing clothing in your presence, which would act similarly to the tissue covering your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing and the clothing would catch any "secretions" (fecal material) that might get expelled along with the air and gasses in the passing of the intestinal gas.

So, for you to catch swine flu through flatus, the person with the flatulence would have to be naked, and expelling droplets and not just gas. You would have to be close enough to the source to breathe those droplets in directly from the air, and that would be much much closer than six feet, because the force behind flatus is insignificant compared to the force of a sneeze or cough. It would likely be required that your nose be within a foot of the anus to be able to breathe the rectal fecal droplets. Otherwise, you would have to touch something the droplet fell on, and then transfer the virus contained in the droplets to your eyes, nose, or mouth with your hand. I know that I would be very unlikely to put myself in that place or do those things, and hopefully you and the person with flatulence would also not likely be in those positions.

Additional flatulence trivia:

The components of flatus are nitrogen (the most prevalent gas in the air), oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. Each person will have a different combination of those gases, and not all people have all gases in their flatus. That is dependent on the foods eaten, drinks consumed (carbonated drinks increase the carbon dioxide content), bacteria present in the gut, and some genetic components--since there seems to be an hereditary relationship to the production of methane in humans. These are all mostly odorless gases. The things present that create the odor are mostly sulfur from hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, butyric acid, and skatole and indole which are compounds high in nitrogen.

Here's a photo and info of the actual virus: http://www.ehow.com/how_4932177_proactive-swine-flu.html Kathy

Usually some degree of immunity is developed from having had an infection from a virus. In some cases, if the influenza virus is able to mutate into a slightly different strain of virus, there is a chance, however, that you can become ill again due to the slightly different flu.

You should take a hot bath if you have a runny nose or a cold bath if you have a high temperature

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Hot: Hot water may kill some of the bacteria, and the cold water may wake you up a bit.

The Canadian statistics are not available. There may be some ongoing cases in limited locations around the world, including in Calgary Canada. However, the specifics and counts of cases are no longer being tracked by CDC, WHO, the US states, and most other countries, now that the pandemic has been declared over. Influenza cases are monitored, but specific H1N1/09 counts (and the lab tests needed to isolate the specific virus to be able to count them correctly) aren't being done. Influenza cases in general are monitored, but statistics are not being kept for H1N1/09 cases separately from other influenza types for reporting any longer in the post pandemic phase.

All public surfaces should be considered potentially contaminated. Sneezes can disperse virus particles in the air perhaps even as far as six feet from the person who sneezes. The particles on respiratory droplets will fall to the surfaces in the area. In addition any surfaces commonly touched, such as doorknobs, drawer pulls, telephones, public pencils or pens, chair arms, desks, tables, shopping carts, steering wheels, or other things touched by hands are very likely to have virus on them. Money is also a place where viruses can live. Coins can have viable viruses on them for up to 2 hours, paper money for even two weeks if the virus is mixed in mucous from the cough or sneeze or from someone's hands.

Different time frames are found referenced about the length of time viruses can remain viable on surfaces outside a living host, but for most environments it is most often quoted that they can "live" for 24 to 48 hours on nonporous environmental surfaces and less than 12 hours on porous surfaces before becoming inert.

Wash hands frequently, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze with a tissue and throw it away immediately. Use alcohol or disinfectant sprays on surfaces (check labels to be sure they are effective on influenza viruses). Don't eat or drink after someone else with the same dishes or silverware. Avoid touching your face, your eyes, nose or mouth with your hands.

For more information on protecting yourself from viruses like Swine Flu or colds and bacteria, see the related questions below.

During the 2009 H1N1/09 swine flu pandemic, the viral infection spread to all parts of the world and in every state in the US. It was a true pandemic.

NO and I was just at the Dr.'s recently, they are taking every precaucion to ensure that anyone going into the hosptial with flu symptoms is checked. I honestly believe you are more likely to catch Swine or any flu in the U.S.

It is very common to any other flu, you can catch it by sharing a food or drink with someone, if they cough on their hand and you touch whatever they touch, etc. So I suggest that you wash your hands before eating, or maybe even wash it every hour or less.

you feel hot. you feel hot.

In contrast to the regular seasonal flu viruses, the H1N1virus exhibits an ability to infect cells deep in the lungs, where it can cause pneumonia and, in severe cases, death. Seasonal viruses typically infect only cells in the upper respiratory system.

As of November 22, 2009 there have been an estimated number of 4330 cases and 51 confirmed deaths from A-H1N1/09 Swine flu in Israel.

Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordoba has stated that Mexico has 1 million doses of the drug Tamiflu and they will be distributed only by doctors and strictly controlled.

canker sores... the hurt bad too. You can get them from skipping brushing your teeth, accidentally biting yourself, and a few other ways.

That would be an expectorant.

The average gestation period for a mouse is approximately 20 days.