{"id":5858,"date":"2019-03-29T09:51:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T13:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=5858"},"modified":"2025-08-24T14:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:58:20","slug":"chicken-flu-causes-nationwide-panic-among-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2019\/03\/29\/chicken-flu-causes-nationwide-panic-among-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Flu Causes Nationwide Panic Among Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>


Infected chicken<\/p><\/div>\n

A national health organization reported 50 new cases of a recently discovered influenza strain in the last few days.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control Prevention announced that the influenza strain is known as H19N12, though many people are referring to it as the \u201cchicken flu.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not to be mistaken for the bird flu,\u201d Mary Gibbons, CDC communication director, said. \u201cIt is only carried by chickens. \u00a0No other birds or poultry can pass it on or carry it themselves. It\u2019s a completely separate thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbons said the CDC is still determining the cause for this new disease. Like any Type A flu strain, the symptoms may present as a \u201cbad cold,\u201d she said. People will feel tired, sore and feverish. They may have a cough, sore throat or runny nose. Sometimes vomiting will accompany these symptoms, Gibbons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreatment has not yet been determined,\u201d she said.
\nGibbons said that many victims of the virus tried to treat it like a normal flu strain. They rested, drank plenty of liquids and ate chicken noodle soup, she said. \u00a0Any victim, however, who has eaten chicken noodle soup in order to treat it is now in a coma, Gibbons said. This adds up to 42 of the 50 new cases, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not eat chicken noodle soup if you think you have the chicken flu,\u201d Gibbons said. \u201cI cannot emphasize that enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the majority of the victims work or live on farms with chicken coops, but the virus may soon be able to pass from human to human instead of chicken to human, she said.<\/p>\n

Burt McDonald, who owns McDonald Farm in northern Maine, said he blames himself for his wife catching the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea this would happen,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cShe gets the eggs from the chicken coop every morning for our breakfast and nothing has ever happened before. It should have been me to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife, Sheri McDonald, was the first chicken flu victim to have fallen into a coma after eating chicken noodle soup. Dr. Gwenyth Spogrose of Northern Maine Medical Center is treating Sheri along with 12 other victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a new influenza strain hit rural areas so quickly,\u201d Spogrose said. \u201cThe most fascinating and concerning part of it is how the flu reacts to the consumption of chicken noodle soup.\u201d<\/p>\n

In collaboration with the CDC, scientists are planning to conduct tests on rats with this strain of influenza and see if noodle soup without the chicken has the same effect, Gibbons said. They\u2019ve also considered running a test on different kinds of chicken noodle soup. As far as the CDC knows, in the majority of cases that resulted in comas so far, the victims all ate the Campbell\u2019s brand of chicken noodle soup.<\/p>\n

Campbell\u2019s did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Normally the flu goes away after rest and drinking fluids, but in extreme cases doctors will prescribe antiviral medications, Spogrose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile a coma certainly qualifies as an extreme case of the flu, we are hesitant to prescribe any medication until its been tested in a lab,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can\u2019t risk a similarly bad reaction like the one they had to eating chicken noodle soup.\u201d<\/p>\n

While tests are underway and the CDC works tirelessly to figure out the cause behind the resulting comas, anyone who lives or works near a chicken coop is advised not to go anywhere near the coop or chickens for any reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust remember, for the time-being, if you\u2019re feeling sick, don\u2019t eat chicken noodle soup,\u201d Spogrose said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A national health organization reported 50 new cases of a recently discovered influenza strain in the last few days. The Centers for Disease Control Prevention announced that the influenza strain is known as H19N12, though many people are referring to it as the \u201cchicken flu.\u201d \u201cThis is not to be mistaken for the bird flu,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8486,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5858\/revisions\/8486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}