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Locked on 05/07/2006 11:16:52 PM PDT by Jim Robinson, reason:
Enough already! |
Posted on 05/06/2006 3:16:11 PM PDT by blam
Expert: H5N1 Worst Flu Virus He's Ever Seen
Thursday, May 04, 2006
SINGAPORE — A leading expert said Thursday the H5N1 virus is the worst flu virus he's ever encountered, and far too many gaps in planning and knowledge persist for the world to handle it in the event of a pandemic.
The virus is a vicious killer in poultry, moving into the brain and destroying the respiratory tract, said Robert G. Webster, a virologist at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
"I've worked with flu all my life, and this is the worst influenza virus that I have ever seen," said Webster, who has studied avian flu for decades. "If that happens in humans, God help us."
(For complete bird flu coverage, visit Foxnews.com's Bird Flu Center.)
So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that easily spreads from person to person, potentially sparking a global pandemic.
Webster predicted it would take at least 10 more mutations before the H5N1 virus could potentially begin spreading from human to human, but said there's no way to know when — or if — that will ever happen.
"All of those mutations are out there, but ... the virus hasn't succeeded in bringing it together," he said at the end of a two-day bird flu conference in Singapore organized by The Lancet medical journal.
Webster also called for more vaccine to be stockpiled, calling current efforts "miserable."
He said research in ferrets suggests that vaccination with a bird flu virus that circulated earlier in Hong Kong protected the animals from dying when they were later infected with the H5N1 virus now spreading in Vietnam. Such vaccination could potentially be used as a primer...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Oh boy, make that 10:00PM.
I was just fixin' to post to you....huh? Concerning the time mix-up. Thanks for correcting it. I'll be watching it.
Uhhhhh that's the point. It migrates b2b. (bird 2 bird). It seldom goes b2h and may never go h2h. Some planning is in order, but hysteria isn't called for.
L
Its' the worst flu we haven't seen and don't want to see.
Is there rhyme or reason to the mutation cycle? xxx amount of time goes by and then there is a mutation or driven by external factors or.....it just happens whenever ?
"You have about as much chance of being hit by lightning twice, on your penis, while standing on your head in a basement as you do of catching this virus."
Give me a break. That's NOW- BEFORE it's mutated to a form that can go human to human. And the experts say there's a genuine threat that it can make the necessary mutations, but I'm sure you have advanced virology degrees and know otherwise.
"This bird flu thing is the biggest public safety scam since Y2K. You have about as much chance of being hit by lightning twice, on your penis, while standing on your head in a basement as you do of catching this virus."
You scoff, but that runs in the family on my mother's side.
Wow - thanks so much.
Now I can take off the TF hat!
I got it made - I don't have a basement!
And I never stand on my head!
They don't ride around in Hummer's do they?
just kidding.
I agree. Hysteria isn't called f
Gotta love the media. Here's an avian flu expert saying that this is the worst flu he's ever seen - leaving unquoted and unwritten that he's no doubt talking about BIRDS and the flu viruses found in BIRDS. Nothing like a little apocalyptic hysteria to get the ratings up. In fact, we're all going to die. Someday.
Why can't these viruses just get their shi*, uh, er, I mean mutations together?
It's random, but we seem to get a major flu about every thirty years. We're due.
I can top that. I don't have a p*n*s.
"Expert: H5N1 Worst Flu Virus He's Ever Seen"
Duh. What does he think all the fuss is about?
Well, it wouldn't run on your father's side, would it?
Bird Flu Special?
Is that on the menu? Hmm... Does it come in Original Recipe or just Extra Crispy?
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