GC: n
S: WHO – https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/influenza-avian (last access: 14 September 2024); NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553072/ (last access: 14 September 2024).
N: 1. – avian (adj): “resembling or pertaining to birds,” 1861, from Latin avis “bird” (from PIE root *awi- “bird”) + -an.
– influenza (n): type of infectious disease, now known to be caused by a virus, usually occurring as an epidemic, with symptoms similar to a severe cold along with high fever and rapid prostration, 1743, borrowed (during an outbreak of the disease in Europe), from Italian influenza “influenza, epidemic,” originally “visitation, influence (of the stars),” from Medieval Latin influentia in the astrological sense (see influence).
Used in Italian for diseases at least since 1504 (as in influenza di febbre scarlattina “scarlet fever”) on notion of astral, occult, or atmospheric influence. The 1743 outbreak began in Italy. Often applied since mid-19c. to severe colds. For the sense development, compare Latin sideratio “blast, blight, palsy,” from siderari “to be planet-struck, afflicted as if by an evil star.”
2. bird flu. Also known as: avian influenza.
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bird flu, a viral respiratory disease mainly of poultry and certain other bird species, including migratory waterbirds, some imported pet birds, and ostriches, that can be transmitted directly to humans. The first known cases in humans were reported in 1997, when an outbreak of avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 in poultry in Hong Kong led to severe illness in 18 people, one-third of whom died.
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Between 2003 and late 2005, outbreaks of subtype H5N1, the most deadly variety of bird flu, occurred among poultry in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Hundreds of millions of birds in those countries died from the disease or were killed in attempts to control the epidemics. Similar culling events have taken place since then, including culls in countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
3. Bird flu in humans
According to the World Health Organization, more than 850 people were infected with H5N1 between 2003 and 2016; more than 50 percent of those individuals died. The majority of human H5N1 infections and deaths occurred in Egypt, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Small outbreaks of bird flu caused by other subtypes of the virus have also occurred. A less severe form of disease associated with H7N7, for example, was reported in the Netherlands in 2003, where it caused one human death but led to the culling of thousands of chickens; since then the virus has been detected in the country on several occasions. In 2013 a strain of H7N9 capable of causing severe pneumonia and death emerged in China, with the first confirmed cases detected in February that year and dozens more reported in the following months. It was the first H7N9 outbreak reported in humans.
Symptoms of bird flu in humans resemble those of the human variety of influenza and include fever, sore throat, cough, headache, and muscle aches, which appear following an incubation period of several days. Severe infection can result in conjunctivitis or such life-threatening complications as bacterial or viral pneumonia and acute respiratory illness.
4. Animal Diseases; Viral Diseases; Poultry Production: avian influenza.
- … a viral respiratory disease mainly of poultry and certain other bird species, including migratory waterbirds, some imported pet birds, and ostriches, that can be transmitted directly to humans.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the TV movie Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, directed by Richard Pearce in 2006.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=avian+influenza (last access: 14 September 2024). 2 & 3. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/science/bird-flu (last access: 14 September 2024). 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=avian+influenza&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 14 September 2024). 5. IMDb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800026/ (last access: 14 September 2024).
SYN: avian flu, bird flu.
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=avian+influenza&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 14 September 2024)
