Avian Influenza Infections in Humans and Poultry of Lebanon: A Mini Review

Avian Influenza (AI), commonly known as “bird flu” is a viral disease that affects birds with usually asymptomatic signs in wild birds and waterfowls. In poultry, avian influenza causes high economic losses and was previously referred to as “fowl plague” in the first reported outbreak in 1878 in Italy. AI is usually host specific affecting mostly gallinaceous species. However, interspecies transmission from birds to humanswas first documented in 1997 in Hong Kong leading to 18 human infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and 6 deaths caused by human exposure to poultry in live bird markets. Since then, not only HPAI H5N1 became of major public health significance causing most of the reported AI human illnesses and deaths, but also low pathogenic H5N1 and other subtypes, including H9N2 and H7 that are highly mutagenic and can convert into HPAI strains in a relatively short period of time.