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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 ...
Then you got nuthin' to worry about at all, do ya?
Please keep what you do while in the basement to yourself. Thanks.
Well, nevertheless, it wouldn't do any harm to reverse hillary rodham clinton's "it fer the chilluns" flu bill, so we can start rebuilding our capacity to produce flu vaccine in this country.
We are extremely vulnerable to any kind of new flu strain, because since hillary pushed that bill through, we depend on foreign producers to make the vaccines.
IF there's a pandemic, does anyone expect the French or the Brits to give us their vaccine first, before they innoculate their own people?
Worst ever. That should be worth some more Federal expenditures.
The rub is how much of a threat there is. There's a 'threat' that the Cayman Islands may become a nuclear power and declare war on the US, too. But that threat is infinitesimally small.
Could this virus mutate into something that passes first from bird to human easily? Sure it could. But HN5 has been known in the wild for what..3 years now and it hasn't yet. 3 years is a very long time to a virus. That's billions and billions of replications and mutations and still nothing that passes easily from bird to human, let alone human to human.
Here's another little statistic. There are over 6.5 billion humans on the planet. Less than 300 people have died from this 'killer flu.' Somewhere around 35,000 Americans die from 'regular' flus annually. Here's the source for that. Therefore good old fashioned 'regular' flu is a 'threat' several millions of orders of magnitude larget than HN5.
Like I said. You have a greater chance of being struck multiple times by lightning on your genitals while standing on your head in a basement than you do of contracting HN5.
Is it a 'threat'? Yea I guess it's a 'threat' But there's a 'threat' of rabid Howler Monkeys flying out of my backside, too. That threat is of about the same magnitude as the one you or anyone you know face regarding bird flu.
L
Don't "... don't have a p*n*s."? John Bobbit is a FReeper?
Uh oh...My next door neighbor practices Yoga...in his basement...and has a cat named Penusa.!
what is it sweeps week
I think some of you should do a little research. The flu that killed over 10,000,000 in 1918-1919 started as a bird flu. I agree panic is not the answer, but in this case, a ounce of prevention may well be worth more than a pound of cure. Humans have been infected with the virus and 55% die from it. The Government is starting to plan for a pandemic so I would say a little concern is called for.
Not a biologist, but aren't these mutations more or less a roll of the dice?
Actually I was standing upright near the shower when it got hit the second time. I hate it when that happens!
Man, I'm really gonna hate it if that happens again.
If you cook it thoroughly, is it safe? Or does the virus live through the frying pan?
Was there a flu shot that those who got Parkinson's could have gotten, at the time of the Spanish Flu? Just curious.
Yep....kind of like planning for a huge earthquake here on the West Coast.....but, hoping it never happens.
I heard that cooked chicken is NOT a problem.
Seems that way but, the dice are rolling all the time. I've noticed that no-one recently has used the term, "It's not if, but when" as they once did in ever press release.
Regardless, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
I'll just head to the mountains for a couple weeks until it clears.
Why did the little moron throw his pet parakeet out the window?
To watch bird flew.
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