The Office of Study Abroad and the MSU University Physician are carefully monitoring occurrences of Avian influenza, an infectious disease of birds that has now spread globally.

So far, the disease does not appear to easily infect people, and although human cases of bird flu have occurred, they are mostly among individuals who have regular contact with poultry. However, health officials warn that if the virus mutates to a form that is easily transmitted by humans, widespread infection could rapidly occur, possibly resulting in human deaths. This is what the media refers to as a “pandemic.”

At this time, the US State Department, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization have not issued any travel alerts or warnings for avian flu-infected areas.

Currently, no changes have been made to any MSU-sponsored programs with regards to Avian flu. However, the Office of Study Abroad strongly recommends that all students studying abroad stay informed about Avian flu by regularly checking the MSU Travel Clinic and CDC web sites for the latest information.  They are both available at http://travelclinic.msu.edu/.