Posted on 05/09/2006 4:51:12 PM PDT by Momaw Nadon
Tuesday, May 9 at 8/7c
To date, there have been no cases of the H5N1 virus in the United States nor has there been a human transmission of the disease in a form that could fuel a pandemic. However, experts around the world are monitoring the Avian Flu situation closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus could begin to spread from person to person. For information on the virus log onto pandemicflu.gov.
There are times that test humanity and challenge the soul of a community or a nation. News images and headlines tell stories of rising waters, quaking ground and tragic acts by man himself. But the real story, the human story, is found in the lives changed forever, in the strength of the survivors, and the resilient hope that gives them the courage to recover.
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America follows an outbreak of an Avian Flu from its origins in a Hong Kong market through its mutation into a virus transmittable from human to human around the world. The meticulously researched film stars Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), Stacy Keach (Prison Break, Blackbeard), Ann Cusack (Grey's Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer), Justina Machado (Six Feet Under), Scott Cohen (Street Time, Law & Order: Trial by Jury) and David Ramsey (All of Us).
John M. Barry, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Tulane University and writer of the New York Times bestseller, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, served as a consultant on the project. Barry's book, which includes a new afterword on today's Avian Flu, focuses on the 1918 Spanish Flu which killed between 50-100 million people.
[Editors Note: The film deals with the current threat of the Avian Flu virus (H5N1). Scientists continue to debate the degree to which the virus can mutate and be easily passed among human beings.]
The movie opens with an American businessman flying to Hong Kong to meet with his Asian manufacturers. After 11 meetings in three countries in six days, he starts his return to Virginia. But before he returns home, the Chinese government has informed the World Health Organization that a new strain of the Avian Flu virus was discovered in a local marketplace. Over 1.2 million infected birds were killed in an attempt to eradicate this strain. Dr. Iris Varnack (Richardson) of the Epidemic Intelligence Service receives an emergency summons to China, where she discovers these efforts may have come too late. Despite the early warning, the H5N1 virus has mutated into a version that can spread from human to human -- shown in eye-opening detail whenever the microbes start to permeate the atmosphere - across races, nationalities, genders and ages.
The story is seen through the eyes of other key characters, including Collin Reed (Keach), Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is the primary go-between for Dr. Varnack with the state and local leaders back in America; Denise Connelly (Cusack), wife of the American businessman, as she deals with his illness and then helps to support other infected people; Governor Mike Newsome (Cohen) of Virginia, who, upon learning of this deadly virus, puts his city in quarantine and then breaks down the state into communities that can nurture each other; Alma Ansen (Machado), a hospital nurse in New York City who suddenly finds herself in the midst of escalating chaos working at a new and hastily constructed flu facility; and Curtis Ansen (Ramsey), Alma's husband in the National Guard who was brought back to New York.
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America is executive-produced by Diana Kerew (Surrender Dorothy) and Judith Verno (The Hunt for the BTK Killer) for Sony Pictures Television. The movie was written by Ron McGee (Atomic Twister) and directed by Richard Pearce (Academy Award winner for Hearts and Minds, Peabody Award winner for Nothing Sacred).
You said...
"Wake up people - it has to hit birds first........the first line of defense against this going H2H is the commercial poultry industry. "
I am not sure that is accurate, Gabz. The virus in birds affects only birds, as long as we are not in close contact with an infected bird. What happens is that the virus somehow mutates into a form that will be easily spread from human to human, either in another animal, like pigs... or will do something on it's own in a human who has been in contact with birds that make it go from human to human.
The large poultry farms are usually under cover, protected from wild birds, which carry the virus. But, if one human brings it in, say, on their shoes, the whole building of birds will die pretty fast...
And just where the heck did the Killer Bees go to?
Pandemic means "widespread, geographically." I don't think the virus needs to be geographically widespread in order to develop a vaccine. The virus needs to have mutated, but it does not need to have become widespread.
Because the BBC may very well have looked at it from the origins of how it is going to hit us first..............as opposed to the premise that ABC is using that it will be H2H that will hit us first.
The point I was trying to making is that bird 2 bird is going to have a devestating effect in this country, whether it ever mutates or not.
I see.
I am hoping that you are right, but one of our institutions of higher learning, which one I can't remember at the moment, did some computer modeling that was pretty problematic, given the international travel these days...
I plan to be prepared anyway, and hope that the preps will never be needed.
And just where the heck did the Killer Bees go to?
Hanging out over at the Y2K Bug's place, no doubt - all watching this foolishness on TV and reminiscing about the old days when *they* were being hyped through the roof.
The various strains of bird flu virus have been known since 1949 when they were first identified in Scottish chickens. The funny thing is a strain of bird flu has never mutated to go from human to human. This is the same kind of unjustified hype that made idiots go stockpile baked beans and stacks of cash in preparation for Y2K. I'm watching this just because it makes for a good laugher, then I'm going out and buying some pork rinds and beer for the next Ebola outbreak.
We're screwed!
Which is why I was very specific in saying it is the COMMERCIAL poultry industry that is going to be the first line of defense in the US against the mutations.
If someone brings it into one of those houses on their shoes, you are right the whole building of birds will die fast - because they will be destroyed. As will any bird in any other house on that property.
My best friend's husband manages 17 of those house, the smallest 5 of which are diagonally across the road from me. I know how picky they are about who goes in and out of those house and how they do it.
My husband's company services computers for Perdue, he despises having to go to the hatchery because of all the disinfecting he has to go through....including his vehicle as it enters and leaves the premises.
Avian Influenza is not taken lightly by the poultry industry.......the 2004 outbreak on DelMarVa caused the Destruction of 3 flocks in Delaware and Maryland and was traced back to a live market in NYC.
I cooked a turkey breast for dinner tonight.
I groaned when I heard that...Ok..humanity, or dying because you needed a hug...uh, sorry, I prefer living.
Gabz, maybe you could explain how the commercial poultry industry will be a "first line of defense" against the mutations?
I am under the impression that this flu will mutate into a human to human form in other ways, such as in Asia, in people who live in much more primitive conditions, or in other farm animals that they live in close proximity to... I don't understand how our commercial poultry industry will protect us, but maybe I have misunderstood something.
In short, it's a dog of a movie. I kept repeating..."Rioting, Civil Disorder and Cops walking off the jobs? Where are the armed citizenry?"
"And just where the heck did the Killer Bees go to?"
They ran afowl [sorry] of the dreaded Gypsy Moths gang.
A terrible turf war ensued.
Now they just collect gambling debts, break a few knees and do minor pimping for the Moths.
It sounds like just another day in Detroit. They want to REALLY scare the public, do a documentary of what it's like for an average citizen there.
As for me, I was watching "House."
Oh....I see.
[then it's okay to take the pistol out of my mouth now?]....;]
That was a complete cinematic clusterf***. No matter what I do, I will never get those two hours of my life back.
It was like a Bayonne School of Film student project. Gack!
This movie helped me prepare for the Avian Flu about as much as Omega Man helped me prepare for the plague.
For suggestions I'll refer, instead, to The Government's Pandemic Flu Web Pages on Individuals & Families Planning Topics on that page include: * Overview * Family Guide, Checklist, and Information Sheets * Social Disruption May Be Widespread * Being Able to Work May Be Difficult or Impossible * Schools May Be Closed for an Extended Period of Time * Transportation Services May Be Disrupted * People Will Need Advice and Help at Work and Home * Be Prepared * Stay Healthy * Get Informed
I agree. I give it 5 thumbs down.
Been there, done most of what they have suggested! Now, if I could just get my grown children to pay a bit of attention, and prepare a bit!
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