"killer flu pandemic is overdue"

[ckdexter]

These are NOT two stories I wanted to hear in the same week:

1918 killer flu virus to be tested in UW lab

"A skeptic of resurrecting and enlivening the 1918 flu virus, however, said it is critical to first make sure we are adequately protected against creating a 'man-made' pandemic. 'This project could create a new bug that infects someone in the lab who then walks out at the end of the day and, literally, kills tens of millions of people,' said Ed Hammond, director of a biotechnology and bioweapons watchdog"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/191418_flu18.html

U.S. Flu Vaccine Supply Cut in Half

"Healthy adults will be asked to delay or skip getting flu shots this year so doctors can give priority to more vulnerable patients, Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic said after an emergency meeting of the government's vaccine advisers, who unanimously endorsed the voluntary rationing."
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=106&sid=290808

I hope UW labs have better security than the US labs the mailed anthrax came from...

[Bridget Burke]

1. So we'd all better stay home in early November.

Polling places will be especially dangerous!

I'm not pooh-poohing the story. The last flu Pandemic killed more than the Great War & could happen again. Let's hope the lab follows good QA procedures.

But the timing seems really convenient for some folks.

[ellie]

2. Don't they say this every year?

I swear that the powers-that-be want to keep us in a constant state of fear.

[Egalitariat]

4. "Killer Flu Pandemic Coming" and "Housing Bubble About to Burst"...

sell many newspapers every year.

[frylock]

5. giant earthquake due to slough california from continent

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. I just started reading a book about the 1918 flu...

It's called "Influenza 1918"

Scary stuff, that flu! They didn't know about viruses yet, so it was especially hard to fight it.

Supposedly, some sort of maybe bird feces or something else may have been mixed in with some water and dirt in the Kansas prairie somewhere.

When they used horses and mules in the military, the only thing they could do with all the manure was burn it. One day in spring of 1918, the soldiers at an army camp in Kansas burned a huge pile of manure, and 2 days later the first cases of this began showing up.

The heavier outbreak came a few months later. The heavily crowded army camps and troop ships gave it a perfect place to take root.

This was much worse than the usual aches, pains, headache, and fever. Where flu usually takes the very young, very old, or very infirm, this flu was taking the young and healthy. One minute someone would be fine, and the next they'd be gasping for air.

Patients' lungs would fill with bloody fluid and they'd die of a pneumonia-like illness.

I've been waiting for something Captain Trips like to catch up with us. And the really pessimistic, cynical part of me almost wonders if it wouldn't be better for mankind if we could start from scratch.

FSC

[Steelangel]

6. About these vaccinations

are quite useless AND dangerous anyway. I rather to get sick and die than take a vaccine IMHO.