Does Avian Flu have you a wee-bit nervous?

[smoggrocks]

 :o

i was watching one of those "What If?"-type documentaries last night on Avian Flu, and i gotta admit, it gave me the heebie-jeebies.

i know the omniscient 'they' say that it hasn't yet morphed into a deadly human strain, but it still freaks me out. you're talking to a chick who always sits in the emergency exit rows and never touches the center pole on the subway.  

so when i hear a guy from the cdc say that this is the thing 'that keeps him up at night,' and news bulletins that say it's reached canada, i grow concerned. as it is, i'm respiratorily-challenged. i'd be gone in a day if i caught that buggie.

no mcnuggets for me, man! i'm already tripling-up on my C doses. (as if that's gonna do a dang thing!)

[Jon E]

I ain't scared.

[Joe]

No.  It's greatly exaggerated.

I would think that this gentleman from the CDC has other, unmentioned things that would keep him up at night, as well, given the very nature of this office.

No, there are other things to fear than this.  This in particular is being addressed in the event something were to happen.

[smoggrocks]

No, there are other things to fear than this.

like... fear itself? ;D

;)

[Joe]

like... fear itself? ;D

No, other things. :)

[Stewart Manley]

They say an avian flu (or, as one malapropist at work had it, ovarian flu) epidemic could kill 50,000 people in the UK. Which seems startling, until you realise that regular flu kills 12,000 people every winter here.

[smoggrocks]

They say an avian flu (or, as one malapropist at work had it, ovarian flu) epidemic could kill 50,000 people in the UK. Which seems startling, until you realise that regular flu kills 12,000 people every winter here.

ovarian flu. oh, that's a gem, man. a gem!

never realized you lost that many to ordinary flu every year. that's a lot of folk, man.

and joe, i hear ya. ever so loud and clear...

[Dead Trooper]

Yeah, it seems the panic industry is working full force with this thing. Lot's of checking the migratory birds and whatnot this side of the world. People starting to buy the medication or whatever.

I'm not really buyin' the hype.

[paul]

If you ever read a history of the 1918 flu pandemic you'll understand why the CDC fellow stays awake nights.

At this point there's no real reason to worry unless (a) you work directly with poultry and (b) those poultry are kept outside and are exposed to migratory wild birds, like ducks.

So if you keep large groups of free range chickens you should take precautions.  If your only exposure is eating them, just cook thoroughly, which is always a good idea with poultry anyway.

The worry with H5N1, the strain of flu that has scientists concerned, is that it will mutate and jump to humans while retaining its virulence.  Given modern transportation, it would likely spread around the world in a matter of weeks.

As things stand now, governments are not prepared to deal with this kind of event, and demonstrate no real propensity for figuring it out.

[Tony]

I tend not to worry about these types of things in genreal, but my wife works in public health and she's worried!!!  

It seems, as usual, that the powers that be are wholly unprepared for this type of pandemic, and should it strike, we're going to be playing catchup just to try and stay even.

Flu migrations are the source of many of the world's greatest "population diminishers", so I certainly don't take it lightly, but I don't lie awake at night pondering the scare either.  I leave that to the CDC folks!

[bigboymapex]

How about  Aids ? It has mutated over the years and now it is able to transmit via airborne...don't believe me fine look it up. It's happening in africa now. They have it quarentined and under careful study!

[Louis Russell]

How about  Aids ? It has mutated over the years and now it is able to transmit via airborne...don't believe me fine look it up. It's happening in africa now. They have it quarentined and under careful study!

I believe this is another urban legend.  According to the  http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/]Centers For Disease Control   No one has been identified as infected with HIV due to contact with an environmental surface. Additionally, HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions; therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.

[smoggrocks]

yah, i haven't heard anything to that effect regardng AIDS, and there is quite a lot of public education about it here.

what paul cited [nice to see you typing again, sir!] is precisely what flipped me out. back then, people were dropping like flies, and given our numbers and ability to transport ourselves 'round the world quite quickly, the stuff could conceivably spread like wildfire. the mutation thing is also disturbing, and very realistic. it happened with AIDS.

apparently, the makers of Tamiflu have now granted permission for other pharmas to develop generic versions of it, but again, the supply and timing issues haven't been covered off. it's not even known if Tamiflu is guaranteed effective in all instances. [i can tell you, when my doc prescribed it for regular flu for me, it did nothing except make me violently sick].

so, i continue to worry. granted, i know the threat isn't necessarily imminent, but they said that about west nile, too, and when i spotted five dead pigeons on my block, i grew quite concerned.

multivitamin, anyone?

[Joe]

How about  Aids ? It has mutated over the years and now it is able to transmit via airborne...don't believe me fine look it up.

Would you care to provide a cite instead, please?

And, AIDS is the condition that usually results from HIV, which is what I think you meant.

[LT500man]

I ain't skeerd!    ;)  it doesn't do any good to worry about something..untill theres something to worry about.  it hasn't hit around here yet so I'm not going to worry about it

[marker]

If the press can't find enough horrors that are ongoing, they'll add the possibility of future horrors to the news show.

In the past, I've wasted a lot of time worrying about things.  I'm trying to concentrate on making a bright and happy life now,  rather than dwelling on things that may not even happen.

I think the press is fearmongering to get ratings.  That's probably why I don't watch the news, or broadcast tv in general, very much.  I'd rather rent a movie.

If there is an epidemic,  all this fearmongering will accomplish nothing.  What we'll need is useful information, not panic.

If there is no epidemic, all this fearmongering will accomplish nothing.  Some programming director thought this would get ratings.

So, when the press comes up with some crap like this, it's time to think about music, loved ones, friends, family, stuff that's important.

[DWdrmr]

As we speak,(figuratively)the news is droning out behind me about the new pandemic. Am I worried? No. I'm more worried about the first nick I'm going to get when I gig out with my new $7,000 DWs... :-\ :'(

[drumwild]

I'm still waiting to die from SARS.

In the meanwhile, I'm refraining from tongue-kissing parrots. Hope I can hold out. Wish me luck.

[Jon E]

I'm not scared.  I've been huddled here in my locked, sterile, safety bunker ever since 1979 when the Swine flu and Legionaires disease threatened to wipe out human life as we know it.

[smoggrocks]

you silly duckies :P

hey, didn't hong kong flu strike the states in like 1969 or something?