More than one strain of Asian bird flu is making the rounds and not all of them have the same level of health hazards. Some Asian bird flu strains will kill you and some will just make you very ill. The most dangerous of the Asian bird flu strains is the H5N1, which occurred for the first time (recorded) in 1997. This deadly Asian bird flu not only kills people, it kills many more chickens than it does humans, a serious economic impact.
H5N1 Bird Flu
Bird flu is the street name for the Influenza A virus, which is the virus that causes Avian flu. The name says it all, as Bird flu is a virus that is hosted by birds. With that said though it may infect several other species of mammals. First identified in Italy in around 1905 the virus is now known to exist worldwide. One strain of the H5N1 virus of avian influenza that first surfaced in 1997 has been identified as the most likely source of a future influenza pandemic around the world.