Human Bird Flu Cases Reported in China

[BigVrunga]

From cnn.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/11/16/bird.flu.china/index.html

Human bird flu in China, one dead

Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Posted: 9:55 a.m. EST (14:55 GMT)

The World Health Organization confirmed two human cases of bird flu in China, including a female poultry worker who died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

China's Ministry of Health has confirmed three human cases -- two in central China's Hunan Province and one in east China's Anhui Province -- according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

But WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the organization does not have enough samples to confirm if a 12-year-old girl who died on October 17 contracted the virus because she was cremated.

Thompson said the two confirmed cases include the girl's 9-year-old brother, who fell ill last month in Hunan but survived and a 24-year-old female poultry worker in Anhui who died from the virus November 10.

China has reported 11 outbreaks in chickens and ducks over the past month nationwide, prompting authorities to destroy millions of birds in an effort to contain the virus. The government also announced an ambitious effort Tuesday to vaccinate all the country's more than 14 billion farm birds.

Experts are especially worried about the potential for bird flu to spread and mutate in China because of its vast poultry flocks and their close contact with people. It also is a major migration route for wild fowl, which experts say might be spreading the virus.

Xinhua did not elaborate on the human cases. Chinese officials initially said the girl, her brother and a schoolteacher who all fell ill had tested negative for bird flu. But the government reopened the investigation and asked WHO for assistance.

WHO experts traveled to Hunan this week.

The government had not previously disclosed there were any suspected human cases in Anhui, where an October 20 outbreak in the city of Tiancheng killed about 550 birds.

Experts also are testing a poultry worker who fell ill in the northeastern province of Liaoning, which has suffered four outbreaks. All farm birds in the province were ordered vaccinated early this month, said Fu Jingwu, deputy director of the provincial Animal Health Supervision and Management Bureau.

He said the effort covered 320 million birds. The province also has destroyed more than 15 million chickens, ducks and other birds.

Also Wednesday, the State Council, which is China's Cabinet, discussed enacting regulations on bird flu prevention, epidemic monitoring and emergency contingency plans, state television said.

The council also said it would offer tax breaks and subsidies to help counter the effects of bird flu outbreaks.

Avian influenza has spread rapidly among birds, first in Southeast Asia and more recently in Europe, however human cases have only been reported in Asia.

More than 125 people have been infected with the H5N1 avian flu strain in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, according to the Centers of Disease Control. About half of those have died.

Earlier this month, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the international community to make immediate preparations for a possible pandemic of bird flu.

While it is not yet clear if the H5N1 strain will ever gain the ability to infect large numbers of people, Annan said world leaders cannot ignore the threat it poses.

The first cases of avian influenza passed from birds to humans was H5N1 in 1997 in Hong Kong. Eighteen people were infected, and six people died -- though the outbreak was limited to Hong Kong.

To control the outbreak, authorities killed about 1.5 million chickens in the Special Adminstrative Region to remove the source of the virus.

I dont know if any of you saw that 'Killer Flu' special on Discovery, but it definitely caught my attention. Were a massive pandemic to break out in the US, millions would die as we are no where near prepared for it.

Has me wanting to stock up on canned goods, antivirals, and vapor masks just in case.
BV

 

[Stuntdawg]

I also read an article stating how warming trends through Central Asia are increasing the capacity for plagues to reemerge.


There are definitely alarming possibilities between that and avian flu.

 

[Pioneer]

thats a lot of dead chickens

 

[vein-x]

Is no one taking this seriously? Not to knock on the "that's a lotta dead chickens" comment, but that could mean a lot of dead PEOPLE. It seems that there's potential for some REAL disaster to strike, because although those were just a couple people in China, the whole point behind the article is that the virus has found a way to spread to humans...

 

[Pioneer]

so what do you want us to do? pee our pants and cry about it? say "OH MY GOD THIS IS SO SERIOUS"?

i am in no position to do anything and neither are you or probably anyone on this board. he posted it to let us know whats going on, i read it, i watch the news everyday and know whats going on. they even tracked that flu to canada so its closer to the USA then some might think.

everyone in a position to do something is probably working as hard as they can to get a vaccine out and contain the virus. so ill continue to make comments like "thats a lot of dead chickens" or "damn all that protein is gone".

 

[BigVrunga]

i am in no position to do anything and neither are you or probably anyone on this board. he posted it to let us know whats going on, i read it, i watch the news everyday and know whats going on. they even tracked that flu to canada so its closer to the USA then some might think.

It *is* a lot of dead chickens. But there are precautions you can take now that would be beneficial. Add supplements to your regimen that are known to fortify the immune system. Get enough sleep. If you've got a little storage space, stock up on bottled water and canned food just in case there were ever an outbreak in your area. It might be a bit premature, but TamaFlu (an antiviral drug) needs no prescription to buy over the internet (its ~$200 for 10 pills though). Get some biohazard vapor masks, etc...

Stocking up on food, and all that might seem a bit premature, but if there were every a killer flu pandemic in this country you'd be glad you did. Think the government reacted poorly to Hurricane Katrina? How do you think they'll respond when 1/3 of the country has a massive contagious viral infection?

Its scary stuff.

BV

 

[MarcusG]

Heh I continue to eat fried chicken.

 

[jmh80]

Bah. Whatever.
If it's my time to go with the bird flu, then, well, I guess I haven't fucked enough girls.

Anyway, good to see the Chinese voluntarily lowering their already inflated population naturally by allowing every disease on Earth to begin there.

 

[BigVrunga]

Bah. Whatever.
If it's my time to go with the bird flu, then, well, I guess I haven't fucked enough girls.

Its tough because you say that now, but if you were gonna die because of some bullshit asshole virus you would think differently. All that training, dieting, focusing on your health and some piece of **** microbe takes you down. Screw that! Even worse - what if it wasnt you but the people you loved and cared about? This **** is for real bro. Maybe not here and not know, but it could be and it doesnt hurt to be prepared. Not freaking out doomsdayer style - just aware of what's going on and prepared for it.

Anyway, good to see the Chinese voluntarily lowering their already inflated population naturally by allowing every disease on Earth to begin there.[/

The biggest problem is that so much of China's population is still so backward. Living in little villages with poor sanitation, not caring about health issues because it affects their livlihood, etc. Doesnt mean they deserve to die though. Ive got a friend who moved here from China. He's a great guy, and much of his extended family lives in a small village over there.

 

[jmh80]

I don't believe that the problem is the population, it's the communist government that won't let the CDC in or cooperate when these viruses inevitably show up there first (SARS).

I think we'd have a fighting chance at most of these diseases if the backwoods ass government would quit hiding everything.

 

[Stuntdawg]

Its tough because you say that now, but if you were gonna die because of some bullshit asshole virus you would think differently. All that training, dieting, focusing on your health and some piece of **** microbe takes you down. Screw that! Even worse - what if it wasnt you but the people you loved and cared about? This **** is for real bro. Maybe not here and not know, but it could be and it doesnt hurt to be prepared. Not freaking out doomsdayer style - just aware of what's going on and prepared for it.



The biggest problem is that so much of China's population is still so backward. Living in little villages with poor sanitation, not caring about health issues because it affects their livlihood, etc. Doesnt mean they deserve to die though. Ive got a friend who moved here from China. He's a great guy, and much of his extended family lives in a small village over there.

With China, it's basically regionalized in the sense that the western and northern parts are primarily agricultural, impoverished, and lesser developed.

Move toward the east coast and there's Shanghai for example. There and around there's development, a flourishing middle-class, and a better way of life. It's like to two different worlds.

 

[BigVrunga]

I don't believe that the problem is the population, it's the communist government that won't let the CDC in or cooperate when these viruses inevitably show up there first (SARS).

I think we'd have a fighting chance at most of these diseases if the backwoods ass government would quit hiding everything.
__________________

I totally agree - I dont know what they're so afraid of.

 

[Rogue Drone]

We can spend a billion dollars a day fighting in Iraq, and how much to prevent what may kill the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb detonating over Chicago?

 

[Pioneer]

China Acknowledges First Bird Flu Cases in Humans Wednesday, November 16, 2005

•​

Over 50 Birds Die of Bird Flu at UK Quarantine Center

•​

China Reports New Outbreak of Bird Flu

•​

Bird Flu Detected in Kuwait

•​

China Quarantines 116 People Following Two Bird Flu Outbreaks

•​

First Persian Gulf Bird Flu Cases Reported

•​

Bird Flu Kills Another in Vietnam



writeScroll(openTab2,'2');
BEIJING — China reported its first three confirmed human cases of bird flu Wednesday as the government raced to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive effort to stop the spread of the virus.
The World Health Organization said the victims contracted the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, and two of them died.
The Health Ministry confirmed two human cases in the central province of Hunan and one in the eastern province of Anhui, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Both areas reported outbreaks in poultry in the past month.
Experts are especially worried about the potential for bird flu to spread and mutate in China because of its vast poultry flocks and their close contact with people. It also is a major migration route for wild fowl, which experts say might be spreading the virus.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 64 people in Asia since 2003.
The Chinese government has responded quickly to public health threats after being criticized in 2003 for failing to respond to foreign pleas for information and cooperation at the start of its outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
(Story continues below)

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Since the SARS outbreak, Beijing has created disease testing laboratories and a national health warning network. It has promised to be more open about epidemics and to cooperate with other nations.
Dick Thompson of the WHO's Communicable Disease Section told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the outbreaks in china represented "a very disturbing situation."
"They have reported these outbreaks rapidly, they've been investigated promptly, the laboratory analysis was done under the supervision of WHO," Thompson said from Geneva. "I think they're doing the right things. It's just disappointing that there's so many human and animal outbreaks."
The Chinese bird flu fatalities were a 12-year-old girl in Hunan and a 24-year-old female poultry worker in Anhui, said Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesman in Beijing. The third case was the girl's 9-year-old brother, who fell ill but recovered.
China initially said the girl, her brother and a schoolteacher who fell ill at the same time were negative for the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu. But the government later reopened the investigation and asked WHO for help.
Agency experts traveled to Hunan this week.
Wadia said China recorded the girl as a bird flu death, but WHO could not reach a conclusion because her body was cremated. He said Chinese investigators based their decision on the girl's shared background with her brother and the circumstances of her illness. There was no official word on the teacher's status.
The government had not previously disclosed there were any suspected human cases in Anhui, where an Oct. 20 outbreak in the city of Tiancheng killed about 550 birds.
Wadia said the poultry worker did not live near the site of that outbreak.
"She apparently had close contact with sick birds," he said. "She died in a hospital. She was therefore tested adequately."
China has reported 11 outbreaks in chickens and ducks in the past month nationwide, prompting authorities to destroy millions of birds in an effort to contain the virus. The government also announced an ambitious effort Tuesday to vaccinate all the country's more than 14 billion farm birds.
Experts also are testing a poultry worker who fell ill in the northeastern province of Liaoning, which has suffered four outbreaks. All farm birds in the province were ordered vaccinated early this month, said Fu Jingwu, deputy director of the provincial Animal Health Supervision and Management Bureau.
He said the effort covered 320 million birds. The province also has destroyed more than 15 million chickens, ducks and other birds.
Also Wednesday, the State Council, which is China's Cabinet, discussed enacting regulations on bird flu prevention, epidemic monitoring and emergency contingency plans, state television said.
The council also said it would offer tax breaks and subsidies to help counter the effects of bird flu outbreaks.
Meanwhile, government ministers at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, urged more regional and international cooperation and response to combat bird flu.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged governments to improve communications and to encourage the private sector to help prepare for outbreaks before they happen.
"New global pandemics, like avian influenza, require new, concerted action," she told APEC trade and foreign ministers.

this say 15 million birds destroyed


thats a lot of dead birds

 

[BigVrunga]

We can spend a billion dollars a day fighting in Iraq, and how much to prevent what may kill the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb detonating over Chicago?

Its a damn shame isnt it? I dont think this administration anticipated the **** storm they'd be in. They overlooked the burgeoning issues we have here at home like health care, social security, the failed war on drugs and an overcrowded prison system and instead did what they are doing now. This flu scare is probably just that - but imagine the **** storm if it reall did happen over here.

 

[Pioneer]

please, dont fucking blame Bush right off the bat for something he doesn't have control over.

next thing you know people will be blaming him not getting enough fries in your mcdonals #1.

 

[BigVrunga]

please, dont fucking blame Bush right off the bat for something he doesn't have control over.

next thing you know people will be blaming him not getting enough fries in your mcdonals #1.

I'm not blaming him directly. The mess that our country is in is far too vast to blame one single person. He couldnt have anticipated this years hurricane season when his adminsitration made the decision to invade Iraq, or an impending flu pandemic (which hopefully wont happen).

next thing you know people will be blaming him not getting enough fries in your mcdonals #1

Well, when your the head honcho and things arent going well, people turn to you for answers. I think it would astinine to blame the president for french fries - but not being able to allocate resources for a serious national issue would definitely be within his sphere of influence.

Its all speculative though - it hasnt happened yet and hopefully never will. If it did, who knows, maybe the President would do a great job.

Personally, I doubt that would be the case. Just my opinion though.

BV

 

[Iron Warrior]

Well guys, it's better to be called a paranoid crackhead for buiyng food, water, & meds than to risk death

 

[50joe]

Man thats crazy

But i'm not about to go stock up on anything, the media tries to scare everyone no matter what.

I just keep having flashbacks to other 'outbreaks' and how we were all going to die.

We need a thinning of the population anyway.

 

[Nullifidian]

This is so cool. They made human bird hybrids! And they can fly!

So awesome. What will those crafty Chinese think of next...

 

[50joe]

This is so cool. They made human bird hybrids! And they can fly!

So awesome. What will those crafty Chinese think of next...

ROFL, i read that and laughed so hard.

 

[Gokmog]

I'm not blaming him directly. The mess that our country is in is far too vast to blame one single person. He couldnt have anticipated this years hurricane season when his adminsitration made the decision to invade Iraq, or an impending flu pandemic (which hopefully wont happen).

[cut]

Well, when your the head honcho and things arent going well, people turn to you for answers. I think it would astinine to blame the president for french fries - but not being able to allocate resources for a serious national issue would definitely be within his sphere of influence.

BV

asinine? anyway. katrina showed that our President of the United States of America is an irresponsible and incompetent delegator.

this may be of concern for people when considering the possibility of a pandemic when it breaches our borders.

i hope the science people and the military people are competent enough to make up for his and his administration's lack of integrity.

:rant:

 

[BigVrunga]

i hope the science people and the military people are competent enough to make up for his and his administration's lack of integrity.

I think they're competent enough, but I dont know if the government can get through all of its red tape BS to implement a real solution for the problem. I was watching the news and over 130 people have died from this specific bird flu strain between China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea. The latest victim a 35 year old woman from China. Think about that, and then think about how many flights from those countries enter the US every day. All someone has to do is sneeze on you and if you're not genetically capable of fighting this particular flu strain on your own - chalk one up for Charles Darwin.

Im not freaking about it just yet, but if things really get heavy Ill be getting enough Tamiflu for my family, believe me.

BV

 

[Dungeon1]

The virus STILL can not pass easily among humans. That is the MOST important thing about the stage of pandemic that we are in right now. All of the people who were infected at this point were either poultry handlers or people who cared for and lived with infected persons. There has not been a third person infection yet. There are preliminary studies going on in New England for a vaccine that is promising. Health officials have been cautioning government in the US about this particular strain of avian flu (H5N1) for over 10 years, so as much as I would personally like to blame Bush, it really goes back to before his time. I do not believe our government is "competent" when it comes to the handling of Health Care issues. **** Ronnie Reagan knew about AIDS for 7 years before he ever mentioned it publicly! Last year they didn't have enough vaccine for the REGULAR flu, and this year our top health official was quoted in an interview as saying that if an Indian company began to produce Tamaflu it would violate "intellectual property rights" which our country believes in, so we would NOT be allowed to purchase these generic drugs, even if it meant a VAST shortage of effective medicine to treat a pandemic that may kill 40 million Americans. I'll post the same links I posted before to keep you updated via the CDC (who also aren't increadibly competent).

Edit: here is a link to the vaccine that is being tested:

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsr...vianfluvax.htm

CDC updated here:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/asia.htm

 

[bioman]

Nature laughs last.

 

[BigVrunga]

asinine? anyway. katrina showed that our President of the United States of America is an irresponsible and incompetent delegator.

this may be of concern for people when considering the possibility of a pandemic when it breaches our borders.

i hope the science people and the military people are competent enough to make up for his and his administration's lack of integrity.

:rant:

asinine

adj : complacently or inanely foolish [syn: fatuous, inane, mindless, vacuous]

Yeah, blaming bush for french fries would qualify

 

[BigVrunga]

The virus STILL can not pass easily among humans. That is the MOST important thing about the stage of pandemic that we are in right now. All of the people who were infected at this point were either poultry handlers or people who cared for and lived with infected persons. There has not been a third person infection yet. There are preliminary studies going on in New England for a vaccine that is promising. Health officials have been cautioning government in the US about this particular strain of avian flu (H5N1) for over 10 years, so as much as I would personally like to blame Bush, it really goes back to before his time. I do not believe our government is "competent" when it comes to the handling of Health Care issues. **** Ronnie Reagan knew about AIDS for 7 years before he ever mentioned it publicly! Last year they didn't have enough vaccine for the REGULAR flu, and this year our top health official was quoted in an interview as saying that if an Indian company began to produce Tamaflu it would violate "intellectual property rights" which our country believes in, so we would NOT be allowed to purchase these generic drugs, even if it meant a VAST shortage of effective medicine to treat a pandemic that may kill 40 million Americans. I'll post the same links I posted before to keep you updated via the CDC (who also aren't increadibly competent).

Hopefully it wont explode into a pandemic, but there should be a big effort to become prepared. As of yet, Im not really seeing that in the media or by statements made by our government.

It seems like something people 'hope' wont happen. Like people hoped the levees in NO wouldnt break, or an undersea earthquake wouldnt kill 100000+ people. If this year's events are any indicator that we should take risks like this seriously, I dont know what is.

 

[Rogue Drone]

Let's pray there's no psycho out there who's thinking of this as a relatively, to something harder to secure like Smallpox, easy to manufacture Bioweapon.

Apparently if someone were to take the blood from a human with Avian flu and inject it into a number of people with the regular human flu, the chances of producing the cross strain of Human transmittable Avian flu is high.

A person with the knowledge and resources to do the first step could then dispense it in airports via aerosol spray to spread it fast and wide, god help us all.

 

[Dungeon1]

The fact that it will make the jump is inevitable. It is a matter of WHEN it will happen. It seems rather deadly at this point, I think something like 60% of people infected have died, but when it makes the mutation to a human transmittable virus, it will also change the way that it effects humans. The scariest thing to me is if you look at the last great flu pandemic (1918-Spanish Flu), which was also thought to have been avian in nature, the people most likely to die were those in the prime of life, like say 25-40! I have heard it explained that their healthy immune system is what killed them. That plague killed like 40 million worldwide and 600,000 americans. It is interesting to read about it. If this makes the jump this year, we are screwed; if we have a few years to prepare, it may not be AS bad as it appears it will be right now.

 

[BigVrunga]

Yeah, its funny everyone knows about the Black Plague, but most people are surprised when you tell them about the flu pandemic of 1918, which was just as bad, if not worse.

 

[Pioneer]

probably overshadowed by that little war that was going on.

 

[BigVrunga]

Didnt WW1 end in 1918?

 

[Pioneer]

yeah fighting ended in 1918, war ended in 1919

 

[Rogue Drone]

The Black Plague had a much greater effect on Europe than the 1918 flu. A far greater percentage of the population died, and like Smallpox, it left hideously deformed corpses that terrified people at a time when practically everyone though it was the work of Satan.

 

[BigVrunga]

Still though, that's a lot of dead people to just forget about. You'd think it would have survivied as a historical tale of caution anyway.

 

[Rogue Drone]

Aren't we overdue for a extinction size asteroid strike?

I've bought the treatment products already in case of a pandemic. An expenditure in relation to the probability and consequences I perceive. IMO, the good stuff will be hard to find if this thing hits, like a gun, better to have and not need, yada yada.

Don't ask me what, I ain't telling.

 

[BigVrunga]

Yeah that Tamiflu sure is pricey

 

[Gokmog]

The fact that it will make the jump is inevitable.

yes. it is... [crepitating fistonelles] INEVITABLE!! [millions of h5nONEs echoing the word]

you can't win, your time is finite. we WILL restore balance to the world.. ONE way... or another..

it is... inevitable!

i remember, couldn't have been more than a week or two ago.. on NPR while i was at work, this guy who was an expert on flu, he was repeatedly pounding in the concept that a resurgence of a very bad flu, a pandemic flu, is practically a certainty, almost guaranteed to happen.. and yet.. the one word he never used.. was.. inevitable. as if he was afraid to say it. isn't that interesting? he was a professional in a very scientific field.. and yet couldn't access that word. as if he couldn't bring himself to say it. say it with me, folks: inevitable.. inevitable... INEVITABLE!!! the cytokine storm is.. inevitable...

:jaw:

 

[Rogue Drone]

A smart scientist is unlikely to use the term "inevitable" or any similar term suggesting a certainty. It would be politically indiscrete and scientifically inappropriate. There are high probabilty situations, but there's too many unknowns, too many variables here to make a absolute statement. In pure terms there are no 100% certain anythings except Death and Taxes.

Scientists are more truthful, generally speaking, than health officials, less politically influenced in most cases,science is based on challenge, politics on deception.

This is a broad generalization, one must consider the individual and the motivations of those who influence them.

There were lot of scientists who thought SARS would become a pandemic, and it faded away.

Whenever someone speaks of ineviable calamity, I think of the Y2K bug, all the people tht got rich hyping that fraud.

The reason I'm preparing is that the probabilty may be moderate, but the consequences are severe, severe economic disruption and even death, the basic formula of probabilty X consequence = better do something now for me.

 

[Gokmog]

Mr Rogue Drone...

i really should thank you Rogue Drone after all it was your post that taught me the purpose of all posts...

 

[BodyWizard]

a couple data points, here:

ALL flus begin as avian; all those affecting humans are the result of mutations that make human-human transmission possible. The bubonic plague, OTOH was transmitted from rats to humans via flea-bites.

Certain conditions greatly increase the lethality of a disease, such as crowding, poor diet, inadequate sleep, and multiple exposure. Given the pop.density in cities like Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai, Mexico City, the compulsive no-down-time lifestyle so "popular" these days, the sorry nutrition & exercise most people get, coupled w/ the volume of travelers around the world, chances are that a modern pandemic will expose a higher percentage of world population than ever before - and could potentially kill a higher percentage, too.

The real travelers to worry about, though, are the birds - wild birds, that is. The H5N1 has infected migratory wild birds, and avian-flu causalties are showing up in bird populations far removed from S.E. Asia; when Spring comes & the birds return from their winter homes, they'll carry it to wherever their summer homes may be - where it will mutate in hundreds, possibly tens of thousands, of semi-isolated communities. The sheer number of mutations made possible by these circumstances increase the odds that the human-to-human mutation will happen.

As for the inevitability: it's happened before, and 1918 was not the first; it's statistically certain it will happen again, in the same way it was statistically certain a hurricane would hit New Orleans dead-on eventually.

Not trying to scare anyone, or sell bird-flu insurance

 

[Gokmog]

yeah the guy on the radio was pretty insistent on how extremely likely an epidemic would happen, if not a global pandemic. he said he couldn't say where, or when, but that a very bad flu outbreak would occur somewhere at some point in the future.

they've found 'em in nearer to europe now. middle-east, near europe, the former U.S.S.R., eastern Asia. flu is definently back in style.

this is how i feel:

:run:

 

[Pioneer]

if its going to happen in those places it will end up in the US no doubt. not just becasue of birds, but all the traveling people do, all the flights of people spreading eachother. better get that damn vacine out.

but you gotta realize, things have changed since the last outbreak. a lot more meds have come out (granted viruses have taken to them and changed to survive), technology has greatly improved, communication, resources, all imporved. hopefully all combined with this flu it wont be close to those as bad as those of the past.

edit: wow i must have typed this really late at night, i dont know how some of you understood what i was saying. (too late to change it now though)

 

[BigVrunga]

That's what Im hoping. If its some crazy devil-flu that kills healthy people in a week's time there could be some issues though I think.
A lot of people could die before they get it under control.

 

[Rogue Drone]

but you gotta realize, things have changed since the last outbreak. a lot more meds have come out (granted viruses have taken to them and changed to survive), technology has greatly improved, communication, resources, all imporved. hopefully all combined with this flu it wont be close to those as bad as those of the past.

Unfortunatetly, as Body Wizard suggested, increased population density, generally poorer individual stamina and the widespread speed of personal travel in transporting human carriers may offset the technology gains since the last pandemic.

Death is just one part of this equation. The economic disruption from so many sick people at one time with the media driven fear of illness that may cause panic buying and many people staying away from the workplace will affect us all if it hits as hard as the projections, broad as they are, suggest.

 

[Dungeon1]

Lets bring back social darwinism! Really, if the economy shits, then someone will have to wipe it's ass. When this thing hits; it will suprise people because no matter how many CNN headlines it gets, people are still too busy to really care. As someone stated above. Our history shows that we will wait for the train wreck and then dispose of the pesky corpses. I am going to use the word inevitable because I am not a scientist; I am however a realist. It is inevitable, it will happen, maybe not in my lifetime, maybe it has already begun, but it will happen. I am not going to be somelone who stands by and points a finger at the government though (even though they are typically less than competent) because I can think for myself. Wow, I am flaming, :wtf: ? I gotta stop the ephedra so late in the day. I ate a shitload of Turkey over the last week. I hope there is something in Turkey that makes you immune to the H5N1, but there is not. Oh well, H5N1 is sure to be the name of a punk band in post-pandemic Amerimexicanada:twisted:

 

[Matthew D]

a couple data points, here:

ALL flus begin as avian; all those affecting humans are the result of mutations that make human-human transmission possible.

Just wondering where you found this information..

 

[BigVrunga]

I remember that being stated on the Discuovery Channel's "Killer Flu" special.

 

[BigVrunga]

I remember that being stated on the discovery channel's 'Killer Flu' special.

 

[50joe]

Bird-Flu Patient Recovers