Name: What is bird flu and why it has so many people worried? - Behind the News
Uploaded: 2024-06-16T14:05:41.000Z
Duration: 3 min 55 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

I love the green grass, I love the people, I love the chickens.

People are always surprised how chickens kind of want to be around you, right?

They have this dog-like quality where they just kind of want to hang out.

In fact, he's been farming them since he was still at school and has managed to build up a successful business, selling eggs from his flock of 40,000.

I started Josh Ramberg's when I was nine with the goal of making some pocket money.

And over the last 14 years, the business has obviously grown a lot and our goals have changed to reflect that.

We want to provide nourishment for the community and do the right thing.

But right now, farms like Josh's are facing a big threat.

An egg farm has been forced into quarantine.

An outbreak was confirmed at a poultry farm.

Two different strains of bird flu have been found on farms in Victoria.

Both highly contagious and deadly for chickens.

You see, humans aren't the only ones who can get the flu.

Bird flu is a kind of influenza, similar to the type that can make humans sick around this time of year.

But unlike us, treating these guys isn't as simple as a trip to the doctor.

In bad outbreaks like these, farmers can be forced to cull their animals to make sure the flu doesn't spread any further.

Bird flu is amongst the most serious threats our industry faces.

There's a lot of really good people out there who have lost their livelihoods.

Luckily, Josh's farm hasn't been affected, but it's already having a big impact on the industry and on customers.

In fact, over the weekend, some supermarkets have brought in limits on how many eggs you can buy.

I think that you're already seeing it right now.

Next time you go to the grocery store, have a look at the shelf and you'll see a fair few eggs.

For a long time, it was known as fowl plague.

But in 1955, it was discovered to be a type A influenza virus.

It's spread by wild birds and there are lots of different strains.

At the moment, a highly contagious strain called H5N1 is wreaking havoc in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

And while it hasn't reached Australia, it is affecting birds in the world's most remote continent, Antarctica.

We're sort of in uncharted territory in a sense of this.

It's sort of the first time this has happened, but it was something that, yeah, we predicted.

Bird flu can actually be transmitted to other animals and occasionally it can even be transmitted to humans.

H5N1 has been found in foxes, squirrels and in the United States, it's recently been affecting cows.

That's a worry because when viruses spread between different animals, they adapt and could become more likely to affect humans.

And although the World Health Organisation says the virus only poses a low risk to people, authorities are keeping a close eye on the situation.

But some good news is that you can't catch bird flu by eating chicken or eggs.

It's very important to remember in every recorded case of human avian influenza, we've got prolonged exposure to sick birds.

And some more good news is that scientists are working on vaccines for the dangerous strains of bird flu.

But for now, farmers like Josh are working to keep their chickens as safe as possible.

You want to make sure nothing's getting out to the chickens in the paddock.

 So that means all the vehicles that come up to the farm are sanitised, they're parked in a separate spot and they're kept separate away from anything that's going out to the field.