After working with Bloomington City Council to keep five chickens cooped on her south-side property, Judith Sylvester faced a second hurdle. She needed permission from neighbors to keep her birds, and they were worried her chickens might harbor avian flu.

“I am not a biologist,” Sylvester said, but she researched the subject to help calm her neighbors’ fears. During that process, she realized that both chicken owners and the public needed to be educated about the flu.

The avian flu virus, specifically the H5N1 strain, affects mostly birds, but it has spread to humans in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Worldwide, 274 people have been infected, and 167 have died since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.