Bird Flu Basics: Safety, Symptoms and Risks

The highly infectious bird flu, also known as avian influenza H5N1, primarily spreads among birds. However, there have been rare cases of infection to humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two human cases of H5N1 have been reported in the United States. The threat to human health has grown as traces of the virus have been found in dairy and poultry farms. Francesca Torriani, MD, infectious disease specialist with UC San Diego Health, is available to discuss bird flu basics, safety, symptoms and risks.

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Biography :

Francesca J. Torriani, MD, is a professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego. She sees patients in the Owen Clinic and the infectious diseases clinic. She also cares for people during hospital stays.

Dr. Torriani is medical director of the UC San Diego Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology and the tuberculosis control units at UC San Diego Health. In collaboration with Atlas Public Health, she has been instrumental in creating an extensive electronic microbiology surveillance and pharmacy utilization program called Guardian that allows for internal data mining, surveillance, unit-specific antibiogram production, and external reporting of contagious infections to San Diego Public Health and to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI).

Since 2010, Dr. Torriani has served on the Metrics Group for CA HAI Reporting, an independent group of experts discussing best standards and methods for HAI reporting in California. 

She is fluent in five languages: Italian, French, German, Spanish and English.