Posted on 12/28/2006 12:40:31 PM PST by blam
Well put, and I also cannot know that the bird flu is going to be the pandemic....I worry about it because avian flu is particularly suited to jump to humans.
I don't suggest anyone freaking out, but it is smart to respect the possible danger. Anything one does to protect themselves from bird flu applies to biological attacks as well, and that is definitely a threat.
Yup. At Thanksgiving each of my family members were asked to cite one thing they were thankful for. Mine was: "of the six billion people that have come before me, I was lucky enough to have been born in the best time and place that humans have ever lived."
I agree, it won't last forever.
Another good point. OK we have a threat of a pandemic. More likely it will be thru some bio agent brought in by radical islam - whether or not that will be "bird flu", I don't know.
That IS one threat that I do not dismiss. The threat that radical islam will raise its evil, ugly head in this country. Yet, this is the one THREAT the Government would send us all through "sensitivity training" for so we don't worry about it.
When this countries politicos quit kow towing to the likes of CAIR, and quit telling me that islam is a peaceful religion, and quit sending TSA employees through sensitivity training, THEN - and only THEN will I believe them about a supposed bird flu.
But that's just me.
Back to their mosques in their segregated communities.
It's a question of when, not if.
Okay. 70m is a maximum, worst case scenario number. The best case number from this point forward is zero.
As a population function, 70m won't be devastating; but, of course, the loss of the individual persons will be devastating to those who love them and know them.
A product is being promoted by relying on fear of a maximum possible number. Meanwhile, large numbers of individuals will die from plain old flu this year, just like every year. Why get excited about a possibility when regular old flu is guaranteed to be a killer of large numbers today?
Everybody should wash their hands often during cold and flu season.
How young/old were these people? Funny how none of these articles ever mention that...
"Parents, for the most part mind-numbed gratification-seeking machines..."
You're a wordsmith.
The 1918 flu likely killed at least if not more than 70 million; for anyone to say that a flu pandemic only as bad as that one will kill only 70 million is wishfully thinking.
Swine flu = Ebola = Bird Flu = Y2K problem = SARS.
Their ages were roughly 15 to 30.
Yeah, I thought 70m was kind of a small projection for a pandemic. Of course, if we were to go through it, it would probably seem incomprehensibly huge.
"Three people have died of bird flu in Egypt in the past week. All three cases belong to one extended family in Gharbiyah province, 80 kilometres northwest of the capital city, Cairo. They included a 30 year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and a 26 year-old man. "
Bad things do happen.
Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)
The epidemic of cocoliztli from1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population of Mexico (Figure 1). In absolute and relative terms the 1545 epidemic was one of the worst demographic catastrophes in human history, approaching even the Black Death of bubonic plague, which killed approximately 25 million in western Europe from 1347 to 1351 or about 50% of the regional population."
"The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 cocoliztli epidemic killed an additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population."
Apart from the tendency for younger people to get it, it is worth noting that:
A) It almost exclusively affects people who handle birds, and/or keep them in their households,
and
B) It cannot, barring a very unlikely mutation, spread from human to human
This is just the latest "sky is falling", "we're all doomed", "life sucks" story from the DBM.
Worried?? Don't fret. You can use your debit card to contribute to the coffers. They'll send you a copy of the Sermon you missed!!
"B) It cannot, barring a very unlikely mutation, spread from human to human..."
Could you cite some sources for that? I know Michael Fumento, a non-scientist, has said that. Anyone else?
Many virologists say the opposite.
And, just think: would you rather have a bit of extra stored up so, say H5N1 does start spreading human to human easily, with a fatality rate only as high as the 1918 flu, you could avoid going out to the store and catching it? Or would you rather assume that everything will continue as it is, with the possibilty that if you are wrong, you will be much more likely to catch a possibly fatal illness?
I suppose you don't stock up a little extra in case of elecritc power outages from snow, falling trees, hurricanes, etc.
It's kind of like insurance that you can use, one way or the other.
10 out of 10 people die..... btw, I thought we were gonna die from SARS! Is SARS not popular any more?
BWAAAHAAA!
When will we ever learn??? Remember the swine flu scare of the late 70s that was predicted to kill millions???? Remember Global cooling and a new ice age????
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