“We’ve been scared with bird flu word flu turd flu and MRSA, swine flu bine flu pine flu and SARS, hanta virus, banta virus, panta virus and now ebola virus. “
Bird/human and Swine/human flu hybrids do something that normal human flu does not do and that is to kill very large numbers of young adults in the prime of their lives. It uses their strong immune systems against them and they drown in their own antibodies. The 1918 flu was the last major flu of this sort to go around.
Every time an animal/human flu hybrid develops it has the potential to be as deadly as the 1918 flu and it is more important to be vaccinated against it than for a normal flu. SARS is a similar virus that has crossed from animals to humans but it is much more rare than the flu.
MRSA is a staphylococcus aureus bacteria resistant to virtually every antibiotic we have. You’re pretty much on your own if you get that one. The flesh eating bacteria that can cause the loss of every limb on your body is a form of MRSA.
Hanta virus is a hemorrhagic fever virus found in the American Southwest. You can catch it from dry mouse droppings. 20 years ago a young couple I know went camping in the California desert and a week or two after they returned the wife came down with the flu. Only it wasn’t the flu it was Hantavirus and it killed her. She was 30 yrs old and very athletic.
I am heading to the decontamination showers after reading your post...
Any idea if Ebola survives dry? I had read it did not.
Thank you for the information. I don’t dispute the potential virulence of the diseases, just the proportions are not what we are being told to expect. With respect to the individuals that have died of these diseases, I just don’t see where we have the death tolls that make it more fearsome than, say, Islam itself, or drunk drivers. A more calm approach would be better than the endless worrying and hand-wringing that is such a waste of time.
I know this guy who is a research scientist. Every time he is around, he will say something like the dam holds so much water it would flood us in ten minutes. I say it hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t. He keeps worrying and I don’t worry. It probably won’t. He is a liberal.