Can my chickens catch my cold/flu?

[Kait27]

This might be a silly question, but I'm a little concerned- I have been running a low temp and coughing for several days (after being exposed to a confirmed case of h1n1). Today I came down with horrible cold symptoms. I know most animals can't catch human disease (and vice versa) but can i pass my cold/flu onto the chickens? are they safe from me? i've avoided contact with them so far.

 

[crazyhen]

I don't know about chickens but your cat if you have one can catch it. Gloria Jean

 

[Kait27]

nah cats can't catch it. that's the handy part about being able to text your vet. cats can't catch communicable diseases from humans.

 

[Novice Chic]

Some friends were just discussing this on facebook. One person said that the H1N1 is now being labeled (don't know if this is an official label yet)AH1N1 because it has strains of avian flu in it. H1N1or AH1N1 is potentially dangerous for many different animals because of it's ability to mutate so well.

I wouldn't worry too much at this point. But for safety sake I'd wash hands before/after handling them, cough into your arm, etc. I don't know that chickens can catch a regular person flu. There is a lot of info to sift through these days with all the scares and misinformation. There are many views on H1N1 even among the professionals.

I hope you feel better soon

 

[redhen]

Quote:
A cat just came down with H1N1.. its been confirmed...
just saying..

 

[Qi Chicken]

The Des Moines Register today had a story about a cat in Eastern Iowa somewhere that had H1N1. Actually the whole family did. They all recovered.

 

[crazyhen]

It was on national news tonight about the cat. Sometimes flu jumps to other mammals, Like pigs etc. gloria Jean

 

[patricium]

The Center for Disease Control's H1N1 FAQ has a section on companion animals at the bottom of the page. They say the virus has been transmitted from humans to pigs, turkeys, ferrets and the one cat. A flock of turkeys in southwestern Ontario got the virus from their human caretakers. From various other web sources, it seems the usual symptoms in birds are ruffled feathers and a drop in egg production - it is generally not too serious for them. But if you have flu-like symptoms, it's probably best to minimize contact with your chickens until you recover, just in case.

Most other viruses can not be passed between species.

 

[L*A*G*]

when your not sure just stay on the safe side; try to get better and stay away from your flock. there is chance that they could get sick.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

There are a number of illnesses that can be passed between humans and different species.

Chickens cannot catch the common cold. In most cases they do not get the forms of flu humans get. However flu viruses are very adaptable. The current swine flu is a mix of swine, avian and human strains, and that has been known since early on. H1N1 refers to specific characteristics of the strain; adding an A in front makes no sense whatsoever if the A refers to avian. If it refers to flu type A then it does make some sense as the seasonal flu is type B. From wikipedia "The hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) proteins are targets for antiviral drugs.[23] These proteins are also recognised by antibodies, i.e. they are antigens.[11] The responses of antibodies to these proteins are used to classify the different serotypes of influenza A viruses, hence the H and N in H5N1." There are at least 16 different H subtypes and at least 9 different N subtypes.