Where did all the "I am so scared of the bird flu" posters go?

[NNN0LHI]

There was a million of them. They were starting threads left and right about how scared they were of bird flu. Then like poof! GONE! Its like they all left and went somewhere else? I don't quite understand it? Are they frightened of something different these days?

Don

[400Years]

1. flew the coop?

[Avalux]

2. Media driven hysteria?

I'd say that's it; since the media's moved on to other things, people have forgotten about it.

[gordianot]

That was last months worry.

[Ron Green]

3. They're all dead.

[northzax]

4. Turkey?

sorry. that was mean.

[MADem]

5. They've moved on, apparently--flown the coop??? n/t

[blm]

6. Retreated to confer with Dems are just as corrupt as the Repubs alliance.

.

[jobycom]

7. They shut up when all the "I don't believe anything can hurt me" posters

shut up.

[stray cat]

8. Its still out there

but its hard work, and impossible for some, to concentrate on more than one thing at once so for the time being there are other priorities.

[Ruby Romaine]

9. they got the swine flu?

[pitohui]

10. their contracts ran out

how much do you get paid to promote junk like tamiflu online anyway? all of $50? hardly seems worth selling one's soul...

[stepnw1f]

13. Not if You Are A Crack Head

in need of a fix.

[leftofthedial]

11. they're now posting threads about

how the Dems took money from Abramoff and how presidents need unlimited power so they can "protect" us and how good the economy is doing.

[SaveElmer]

12. Nothing new to report...

Eventually you get tired of talking about the same topic when there is nothing new to report. The situation has not changed radically, so there really isn't a whole lot to say

[pocket]

14. Not to Turkey. A teenager just died of it there.

yesterday.

[NNN0LHI]

17. Whats that make 71 deaths since it was first identified in 1959? BOO! n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. I thought it was a turkey that died.

[gkhouston]

15. I'm as concerned about it now as I was then

but I've never been much of a thread-starter. Seems like there was a rash of discussion when the US media woke up and realized we might have a problem on our hands but they've shunted off to a different disaster of the week; quel surprise. I'm still following the WHO reports and such, as I have been for the last year. Here's hoping the corporate media won't have a reason to "rediscover" H5N1.

[knitter4democracy]

34. Me too.

I didn't start threads, but I did post on them links and copies of items from New England Journal and such.

I still think it's something to work against and prepare for. I still think that our town's medical community and hospital can't handle anything like that. I still think my hubby's right on being worried about it, as he's an internist who almost went into infectious disease.

Why do we get attacked, but the MIHOP groups don't?

[gkhouston]

36. I think it's because most people were unaware of the threat

before it popped up in the national media, so they still have the misperception that it's all about BushCo trying to take away our freedom or Rumsfeld trying to sell Tamiflu. Anyone who's worried about H5N1 is therefore buying into or selling the propaganda. In reality, those of us who were following bird flu before the big media blow-out realize that BushCo will probably try to exploit this situation, but that doesn't make the threat any less real.

[knitter4democracy]

38. I agree.

That's what I say all the time here. This has nothing to do with the administration, unless in a Katrina-like sense of the devastation if it ends up being as lethal as it could be.

My hubby's been studying and following this since med school in the late nineties. It's not a neocon plot.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. THey're eating crow.

[meganmonkey]

18. They all got some of this and they feel much better now:

It's KFCs new bird flu dipping sauce

[oasis]

20. Good one.

:rofl:

[gkhouston]

21. LOL, I can't imagine how nasty that would taste!

Isn't regular KFC bad enough? :rofl:

[havocmom]

19. LOL This thread should include a poll

A. They are hiding in their dens wearing face masks with tissue boxes on their feet, muttering "Germs, they're going to get me! Germs..." Unable to post due to fear of what lurks on their keyboards

B. Causalities of the War on Christmas. MIA in the war on viruses.

C. They can't post because they got their duct tape wrapped around their axles, along with their typing hands.

D. They are all outside with their Audubon Society Field Guides, looking for species indigenous to Asia but uncommon in their own 'hoods.

E. Busy programming new phones they got for Christmas and making sure they have the CDC on speed-dial.

F. Sick with the run of the mill flu

G. Stoned outta their minds on NyQuil because the common cold is trashing them.

H. Figured out they were more likely to be victims of government corruption and/or corporate pension shananigans than any virus and decided to resume work on efforts to throw the junta out.

I. Most of the above.

Edited to add option
J. They can't post. Computers down with viruses.

[ucmike]

22. Killed by SARS? West Nile? Anthrax? Hanta Virus?

the only plague i'm worried about is "media hype fever"

[QuettaKid]

24. Story on NPR today. . . .prepping in Seattle.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5128474

[durablend]

25. They probably OD'ed on Tamiflu

[eShirl]

26. we are still here

as I recall, it was mostly "this BIRD FLU scare is just a fake bunch of bullcrap!!!!!" threads, and then a few people who are actually informed on the topic chiming in to say "actually, there is genuine case for concern."

[AZBlue]

28. Yup. It was the other way around.

The naysayers were the posters. We're still here, reading, watching and educating ourselves.

[gkhouston]

30. I don't know. Posting something like

"this BIRD FLU scare is just a fake bunch of bullcrap!!!!!" could be a way of saying "I am so scared of the bird flu" so I'd say the OP isn't far off the mark.

[ddeclue]

32. Concern yes.. panic no.

What all the reporters fail to consider is that though the disease appears to be very deadly they are only considering cases that were brought to a doctor or a hospital that were already clearly serious.

We don't know for instance what percentage of people exposed to avian flu are even symptomatic. What if 99% never show any symptoms but of the 1% who do, half of those die? In that case we have a disease that kills 0.5% of it's victims.

Now if 100% are symptomatic and half of those die, it's a different story.

Nonetheless please remember that the country survived the Great Influenza right after WWI before the advent of modern medicine- there were no antibiotics, no antivirals, no one understood DNA or gene mapping, there were no electron microscopes or any of the many amazing tools available to doctors and epidemiologists today.

So let's all not get in a panic and let the media and the Bush administration herd us to the nearest exit from democracy with their latest fear talking point of the day. Let's let the CDC do it's job and let's concentrate on serious issues not fear.

Doug D.

[arcos]

37. EXACTLY!

The overwhelming majority of bird flu threads were started by naysayers.

[ddeclue]

27. bird flu killed them...

fear weakens your immune system..

;)

[joanski0]

29. They all heard Mike Levitt say that

you won't get it if you use common-sense precautions. Don't eat raw chicken and don't drink duck's blood. Seriously, I heard him say this on one of his interviews on TV.

[Ilsa]

31. Heard you could get it thru the internet, so they don't post anymore. eom

[triguy46]

33. Oh they are still around...

I have to do a presentation a week from Tuesday to our university president's executive council on our preparedness for dead chickens falling from the sky. If it happens before then we're sunk.

[skids]

35. Seriously.

The serious answer is: we no longer have to go very far to find good material to post about. So much, so suddenly, is really going on now that no single issue can dominate the boards (and no, Abramoff is not a single issue.)