Unfortunately, soon flu hysteria will overtake politics

[Jim Warren]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25149-2055104,00.html

[Avalux]

1. Why? It hasn't mutated to human/human transmission yet.

Yes, birds are popping up here and there, but so far, it's still a bird disease, unless a human has extremely close contact with an infected bird. No worries. :hi:

[SaveElmer]

4. Won't keep the media from sensationilizing it...

They have done that already, causing unnecessary panic in some areas affected.

[Deep13]

5. Most people are in close contact with their livestock.

That's why the extermination campaigns are so devestating. For folks who live close to the ground, which is most people in the world, loosing livestock means wou don't know where your next meal is coming from.

Besides, the 1918 flu had elements of both bird flu and human flu and it is believed that it was created in a person who had both diseases at once. When the viruses came in contact with each other, they mutated into a bird flu that could spread among humans. Just a matter of time before that happens.

[Avalux]

8. Yep - probably within the next few years.

Infectious Diseases is my daily work. We expect it to happen but just don't know when. The economic aspect you point out is something a lot of folks don't think about, since us Americans are so advanced. ;-)

[sarcasmo]

10. The sad thing is hundreds of thousands die of the cold ever year.

The cold isn't as exciting as the BIRD FLU. TERRA, TERRA

[Avalux]

11. Nope, and neither is HIV.

40.3 million living with it in 2005, 3.1 million deaths in 2005.

[sarcasmo]

12. Just not sexy enough for TEEVEE, just a sad world we live in.

[Deep13]

2. Can't we have a corrupt, fascist government AND a disasterous pandemic?

:shrug:

[teriyaki jones]

3. This is still just bird-to-bird transmission

Yes, there have been a small number of bird to human transmission cases. But we don't know if or when the virus will mutate to enable human-to-human transmission.

[Deep13]

6. I can only drive an automatic transmission.

just saying is all

[WI_DEM]

7. It is an important story

as anybody who has studied the flu outbreak of 1918-19 knows, but of course the administration will use it to deflect from other stories.

[Che_Nuevara]

9. This is actually a big deal.

I live in Germany, so I've gotten the European exposure (no pun intended) to this.

Germany has stopped importing poultry and down from Turkey. The Turkish are pissed about that. The island of Ruegen (northeast Germany on the Baltic sea) was covered with dead birds this week. The disease is spreading incredibly quickly and, given the rather untracable nature of wild birds, there is no way to impede its progress.

Even if it does not mutate to affect humans, it's still dangerous. It's deadly, and it's unstoppable. It will wreak havoc on livestock. It will fuck with international trade. And what if it doesn't jump to humans, but it jumps to cattle or swine?

Besides, just because we don't contract it like they do doesn't mean it can't affect us. Remember mad cow disease? There's a case in Monmouth County, NJ (my home) right now where they're investigating whether ingesting infected beef actually fostered disease. The outlook doesn't look good.

This is really a big deal.

[neweurope]

13. I quite agree!

Greetings from the Frankfurt area :hi:

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!