Awareness of the nature of virus attack and how it spreads can help prevent outbreaks.

It may sound rude to discuss the importance of washing soiled hands, covering coughs and using gloves when handling any body discharge or fresh meat, but it bears repetition to state that no virus can live without the support of living animal or human tissue. Discharge from the nose, eyes and mouth as well as feces are the established routes of infection transfer for the bird flu virus. The particle size is such that it is barely visible even to the most powerful microscope; hence even the slightest slip is enough for a virus to find a new host. Any animal or a person, who shows first signs of the avian influenza virus attack, has to be quarantined immediately. It has to be kept in mind that it takes a few days for a person of average health to show symptoms after infection. Therefore an animal or a bird or a human being that has come near another one of these life forms that is infected, has to be treated as a suspect and watched as well.

Doctors, nurses and technicians who treat people and animals with the bird flu often fall prey to the attack themselves. This shows the highly infectious nature of the pathogen. It is also a pointer to the fact that sharing a closed room or air conditioned or heated interiors with unknown and large numbers of people and pets should be a cause for concern and for extra precautions. Aircraft, trains, offices and all crowded public places are potential foci of infection. The risk is much lower when close-knit communities congregate; conversely, red flags must be hoisted when exotic bodies drop in. This calls for a whole new etiquette in international settings, because necessary medical precautions can easily be construed as being rude and even discriminatory.