Bird flu coming. U.S. woefully unprepared. Worse than Katrina?

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

Katrina may be just a preview of what's to come. This article was published on Aug. 18, before Katrina formed. If I had little confidence in my government before, now I have none.

In the same grim spirit, the British media revealed that officials were scouring the country for suitable sites for mass mortuaries, based on official fears that avian flu could kill as many as 700,000 Britons. The Blair government is already conducting emergency simulations of a pandemic outbreak ("Operation Arctic Sea") and is reported to have readied "Cobra"...

<snip>

Little of this Churchillian resolve is apparent in Washington. Although a sense of extreme urgency is evident in the National Institutes of Health, where the czar for pandemic planning, Dr Anthony Fauci, warns of "the mother of all emerging infections", the White House has seemed even less perturbed by migrating plagues than by wanton carnage in Iraq.

Prevention and cure
As the president was packing for his long holiday in Texas, the Trust for America's Health was warning that domestic preparations for a pandemic lagged far behind the energetic measures being undertaken in Britain and Canada, and that the administration had failed "to establish a cohesive, rapid and transparent US pandemic strategy".

www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GH18Ae04.html

[HEyHEY]

1. Thanks, sunshine!

[DistressedAmerican]

2. Fuck Me. Like I Need To Hear That!

[anarch]

3. in terms of sheer numbers...probably will be worse, yeah

sorry, but I don't think there's any way of sugar-coating it.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. I'm beginning to hope...

one of these takes me quick.

There is very little keeping me sane anymore.

FSC

[Beam Me Up]

13. I hear you.

[faithnotgreed]

16. oh sweet fsc

it is beyond words right now isnt it

so im sending a hug

[fudge stripe cookays]

33. Aw thanks!

:hug: It does help.

2005 has sucked for some of us worse than others. I have MS and am on immunosuppressive drugs. If I get this, it'll probably go pretty quick.

FSC

[gulfcoastliberal]

5. If the pandemic comes, don't say you weren't warned.

And don't expect the gov't to help. elp yourself. Demand Tamiflu from your doctor if you have ins. f he/she denies it or you don't ave ins., buy it online.

[Liberal In Texas]

12. Yes. Everybody should have Tamiflu stocked up, because when the

thing gets here, there will not be enough to go around, not nearly enough.

[sam sarrha]

15. apparently the Chinese have been using it on their chickens.. and it doesn't

doesn't work any more.. they didn't want to lose their chicken crop, so they used it as prophylaxis.. and the virus got immune..

i am not sure exactly what they used .. it was described as the ONLY antiviral available to treat the flu.

a guy on the radio said he worked in Hunan Provence and what they were calling bird flu was Ebola or ebola like disease.. and it was everywhere in the countryside.. that they didn't want their products to be boycotted, so they have covered it up.

you dont get much out of china, but we send a lot of jobs there to make a very few very rich here..

[drfresh]

18. It was Amantadine

China kinda screwed it up.

http://discuss.agonist.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=21748

[BeTheChange]

19. Can you just demand Tamiflu?

Im serious.. Im going to start stockpiling shit and Im wondering how to get doctors to write scripts for this stuff.

Can I say that Im planning on visiting Asia and I just want to be prepared? Think that will fly?

I mean, cause someday, I am going to visit Asia, atleast Im planning on doing that.. so it isnt really a lie.

[Liberal In Texas]

23. I guess it depends on how accommodating your doctor is. Mine will

probably not blink an eye. I'm going to try to get 2 so I'll have one for my wife.

If your doc isn't so accommodating, I think the Asia story sounds pretty good.

[wli]

6. Cheney's bird flu warheads are ready for launch at blue cities in the US

Or something similar. I wouldn't put it past them, anyway.

[Athame]

7. Just returned from Europe

and the Bird Flu was big in the news in Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, and France. At Paris airport (CDG) large signs at security entrance warned travelers about dangers of poultry farms and parks with migrating birds, eating poultry too lightly cooked, etc. No countries were named, which I thought interesting. They were not singling out Asian countries, for example.


But, of course, we can trust FEMA and the government to watch out for our best interests...:sarcasm:

[BeTheChange]

22. Im seriously done eating meat.

Im done with chicken. Im done with beef. Im going to keep eating fish for the time being.

This is like, animal karma or some shit. Mad Cow, Avian bird flu..

Screw it. My edamame, soy and mycoprotein works just fine thank you very much.

[Ladyhawk]

28. Fish is high in mercury.

So, you'd better stop eating that, too. ;)

[Qibing Zero]

32. And that's a fucking shame.

Ugh, makes me sick that even fish are becoming less healthy to eat.

[fudge stripe cookays]

34. I'd avoid seafood too

ESPECIALLY shrimp and crawdads. If they were questionable before, what do you think is in them now? :puke:

GOD I"m going to miss shrimp quesadillas.
FSC

[nashville_brook]

8. i've been following this too -- it needs to stay associated with this

disaster. we are unprepared. we are vulnerable. who knows what diseases have already started in the NOLA population. i've wondered about this with regard to the quarentine-like fascism.

i just don't know if i can be any more sick than i already am.

[unhappycamper]

9. Throughout history, fatality rates for diseases such

as cholera, diphtheria & smallpox of 50~80% were not uncommon. Smallpox was Cortez's most effective weapon in conquering territories.

The flu pandemic of 1918 killed an estimated 50~100 MILLION.

When H5N1 mutates to it's killer form, we'll be in pretty deep shit. Scientists are guessing they may be able to come up with a effective virus in 6~9 months.

I was trying to find a few DU threads on the issue, but finally gave up. A good starting point to learn more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1

Also, Google: h5n1

[sam sarrha]

20. they outsourced the production of Vaccines, we cant get them here, and the

places we outsourced them to will give it to their own people..not that murdering B*stard Bu$h..

all utilities will stop when the operators get sick, not power, no water.. do you know where a well is..??

no food and no gas because the truckers will be sick or dead

that F*ucking Bu$h is a real F*cking Jonah.

we need to impeach him NOW and start getting ready for this.

[hertopos]

10. Actually, I am very concerned

I have a two years old daughter... Today's baby's fate in NO may be tomorrow's my daughter's fate. Please keep this thread alive. More people should pay attention to this.

Hertopos

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

11. At your request....

:kick:

[Beam Me Up]

14. .

[halobeam]

17. kick

[BamaGirl]

21. bird flu...cuz things aren't bad enough

:sarcasm:

[FreedomAngel82]

24. Oh God...

These people are trying to kill us all! *sigh* :cry:

[phusion]

25. Recommended

Maybe we can get it on the greatest page...

Any help?

[milkyway]

26. george bush is the antichrist.

Everthing he does results in suffering and chaos. When he brags about the progress we're making, he's telling the truth--to him, it is progress toward his goals. george bush came to this earth from the pits of Hell.

[Ladyhawk]

27. As long as it kills my pets, too, because I wouldn't want them to suffer

from thirst and starvation...:shrug:

Yeah, I'm just filled with optimism right now. :(

[AlienGirl]

30. My big fear is that our pet birds will be taken away and killed

at the first sign that H5N1 has become human-to-human transmissible.

Tucker

[earth mom]

29. Whoa! This is freaking me out!

Okay, so I read the entire thread and went to yahoo and typed in Tamaflu and clicked on a random link to see how much it would cost to order it.

Here's what I linked to:

Ideal Pharmacy Care
1400 Esplanade Ave
New Orleans, LA 70116

Somebody trying to tell me something?! :tinfoilhat:

[bobbieinok]

31. goooood grief

[earth mom]

35. Morning Kick!

:kick: