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Similar outbreaks of Bird Flu occur from time to time in Australia, where infected migratory birds bring the disease to chicken farms, especially those keeping Free Range birds to produce eggs for sale. One of the reasons WA has not reported any Bird Flu during this latest outbreak is that migratory birds who become infected in countries in the Northern Hemisphere rarely drop into the egg producing areas of WA and infect the free range birds or contaminate their water source. However viruses mutate all the time, and in the past year there have been reports of Bird Flu infecting penguins and other birds in Antartica, dairy cows in the USA and one child in Australia, who probably was recently infected in India. So yes, the Bird Flu virus can infect humans, but rarely. A commonly asked question is: What is the meaning of the numbers next to the “H” and “N” in avian influenza designations? For example H7N3. Avian influenza viruses are classified by a combination of two groups of proteins: hemagglutinin or “H” proteins, of which there are 16 (H1 to H16), and neuraminidase or “N” proteins, of which there are nine (N1 to N9). The recent outbreaks in Eastern Australia were caused by three different variants of the highly pathogenic H7 strain. Sources: *Viruses are fascinating (to Virologists at least) so I have added a few other remarks at the end of this report. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Viruses*
Viruses are extremely tiny infectious agents that consist of genetic material (nucleic acid—the ‘N’ in RNA and DNA) surrounded by a protective coat of protein called a capsid. Viruses are genuinely weird. They’re not classified as either plant or animal. They’re not seen as technically alive, as they don’t move, eat, breathe, excrete, or reproduce (outside of a host cell)—many of the usual characteristics of a living thing. Some regard them as no more than parasitic fragments of RNA or DNA. The debate about whether they are a form of life, or organic structures that interact with living things is still ongoing in the scientific community. Viruses infect all types of other life forms: humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms such as bacteria. Viruses can’t reproduce because they can’t capture or store energy, so they need to enter and hijack the machinery of host cells and use their raw materials and energy to make copies of themselves (replicate). (When they do this, the “new” virus can be examined to determine if it has taken nucleic acid from another species. Virologists love to forensically determine the genealogy of a new virus strain - "Oh look, there’s some pig and cattle nucleic acid that wasn’t there before”)
Some viruses, such as measles, don’t change much over time. This means once you are vaccinated against it, or you’ve had measles, your immunity may last a long time.
Other viruses, such as flu, mutate much more rapidly. If you have been infected with flu, you can be infected again when your immunity wanes or that flu mutates, and your body doesn’t recognise it. Each year the World Health Organisation studies what the dominant strains of flu are, and flu vaccines used in Australia usually include the top three strains (top four for older people).
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It is bittersweet to see our wonderful Lorri step back into a lesser supporting role. She deserves every kind word spoken about her, and thank you, Mal, for expressing them so well. Lorri was presented with Honorary Life Membership.
It was a real pleasure to welcome back Suresh into our fold. As a former member of AxR, he is very keen to get back into club activities, although his ongoing work commitments away from Perth will make it challenging for him to attend weekly meetings.
Professor John Edwards and his wife Peta (a former member of Applecross Rotary) visited our recent breakfast meeting. John brought us up to date with the current “Bird Flu” viral infections which have led to the death of hundreds of thousands of chickens in the ACT, NSW and Victoria, euthanised to stop the disease spreading. This has led to a shortage of eggs at some supermarkets in Eastern Australia. 
