Avian Bird Flu

[koolking1]

widely mentioned

oversea and in the alternate internet media for a good long time now but not a word here in the USA main stream

media till all of a sudden!!! What's this all about?

[NaughtieGirl]

widely

mentioned oversea and in the alternate internet media for a good long time now but not a word here in the USA main

stream media till all of a sudden!!! What's this all about?

I was actually aware of this threat last

winter as well.

The reason it is such news in Europe is because the avian version (i.e. not yet mutated to

where humans can catch it) has spread as close to Western Europe as Roumania and Turkey.

As far as the US media

are concerned, it has been front page news (Boston Globe, USA Today) ever since the huricane frenzy died down

some.

We need to keep our fingers crossed that it does not mutate this winter, so they have time to manufacture

more vaccines and more Tamiflu. Meanwhile I'm still planning on stocking up on some extra food and water, so that

if there is an outbreak I can stay away from the grocery store and other crowded places. Just one more reason to do

it.

[Rakesh]

Romania and Turkey, and now I

think Poland (which is next to us, gee), Croatia and Italy

KFC is gonna go bankrupt in Europe :p

[Biohazard]

Personally, I think the issue

is overrated. More panic than rational thought, due to the memories of Spanish Flu, which was avian in origin.

Avian flu has already been shown to pass from human to human in many cases, but only through close and prolonged

contact. There was a report which came out in the journal of Nature this year which showed that a Vietnamese girl

caught the H5N1 strain while caring for her sick brother, and that strain was resistant to Tamiflu, but sensitive to

Relenza.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7062/full/4371108a.html

It

would take a simultaneous infection of avian and human flu viruses to even present the [extremely] low possibility

of recombination into a strain that passes more easily between humans.

BTW, one should always be prepared for

disasters and not wait for media hype. Everyone should always have a stockpile of water, non-perishable foods,

antibiotics/virals (assuming you're somewhat knowledgable in medicine), guns, ammunition, etc.

[Rakesh]

Gotta give the media and bored

middle classes something to panic about...

Society needs medial bogeymen (random and totally unbacked

terrorist attack threat levels on fox anyone?).