Let the debate begin, I suppose.
Y2K redux?
Guess it is time to stock up on more cases of MREs.
Buffalo Wings!
Well, I hope he is wrong, but it is not looking good. Those kids who died in Turkey, not good. Like the 1918 flu this one seems to be able to kill young healthy people. NOT GOOD. Whether or not it is transmissable between persons is not clear at this point, but again, the Turkish children cause some alarm. I know in my own family about 4 people died in the 1918 epidemic.
Dr Mike Osterholm is a friend of mine. He has been trying to raise awareness on Avian Influenza for quite a while. Despite the deniers on FR this is going to really take its toll on the planet. When I posted earlier that Tamiflu was ineffective against H5N1, there were the usual suspects comparing AI to SARS and such.
This is going to be REAL as opposed to Y2K that was a farce.
Semper Serious
Why assume it will be a deadly virus once it changes into a human form? If it’s going to have to change into something else to really get at us, why assume the new version will be so lethal?
Why just the avian flue? There must be a thousand deadly viruses that kill animals with genetics closer to our own. Why not worry that they’ll kill us.
I think this whole thing is generated from administrators and government doctors who are afraid to be unprepared, media looking for a story, and much of the publics nature to panic.
You left the last line out of the article:
"• Al Avlicino is the author of Beat the Flu: How to Stay Healthy Through the Coming Bird Flu Pandemic, published by Fusion Press, priced £9.99"
FYI. I think I got you all.
Did you get the article about elderberries and the possibility (or likelihood, according to the article) that they may help even with avian flu?
Nice apocalyptic writing. People really enjoy the good scare that comes with any consideration of the end of the world - asteroid impact, nuclear war, the Second Coming, superflu. However, disease tends toward becoming less and less virulent over time. It's true that catching a disease from another species can be deadly - I once contracted brucellosis after caribou hunting, a disease adapted to hoofed animals, and it almost killed me. But it didn't - my body beat it back before I needed hospitalization. Bird flu contracted by humans is deadly. A human flu derived from bird flu would be far less deadly. This doesn't mean it would nice to experience, either, but I doubt it would lead to the collapse of civilization. One more comment: in Barbara Tuchman's book about the 14th century ("A Distant Mirror"), the Black Death is one of the elements that led to the creation of Western Civilization. I don't want to die from the flu, nor my family, neighbors, friends, or townspeople, but humanity would survive.
For the last time, bird flew, or bird has flown!
Not so, I'm presently prepared for:
* A category five hurricane. And, any looters.
* A war with Iran that could cut our oil/gas supplies.(maybe for months) And, any domestic terrorist activity associated with the war.
* A flu pandemic that could last for 6 months to two years. And, any domestic violence that may be associated.
* A small 'city-busting' asteroid impact. And, a subsequent possible 1-2 year 'cosmic-winter'.
...people soup.
(Such a serious topic, it needed a bit of humor.)
Malaria Kills Millions of People a Year,Lime tick disease Kills Millions, HIV-AIDS Kills Millions every year, SARS Kills Millions every year, Abortion Kills Millions every year, Old age Kills Millions every year, MAD COW disease Kills Millions, PBB contamination will Kill Millions, Anthrax will Kill Millions, Asbestos will Kill Millions, Mercury poisoning will Kill Millions, Cancer Kills Millions every year, Small Pox will Kill Millions, Millions will die from starvation, Millions will die from Alcohol related accidents, Millions & Millions & Millions will die of the Bird Flew !!!....................................oop's "FLU"
bump
“When we get a positive, we’re sure,” Alan Hay at the NIMR told New Scientist. “But when we get a negative, we aren’t.” One problem is getting a sample with virus in it. The amount of virus present during the course of bird flu in humans varies more than with human flu. And test samples are usually mucus from the nose or throat. But because H5N1 is a bird virus, it prefers the higher temperatures – and the more bird-like cell-surface molecules – of the lower lungs.
From a NewScientist RSS feed,