Lawmakers briefed on possibilities of bird flu-Discuss worst case scenarios

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http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050406/REPOSITORY/504060322/1001/NEWS01

Lawmakers yesterday were told that if the new strain of avian flu spread to New Hampshire, under the worst scenario, it could infect hundreds of thousands of residents and cause as many as 2,000 deaths.

"This is not a prediction of what will happen," state medical director William Kassler told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "We would be irresponsible if we did not plan for the worst case, even though we don't expect that to happen," he said.

About 200 people die annually from conventional flu in New Hampshire.

For now, avian flu cases have been confined to Southeast Asia, where 48 people have died after catching the disease from infected birds.

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http://www.thewmurchannel.com/health/4348988/detail.html

Lawmakers Briefed On Potential For Bird Flu Epidemic

Deadly Virus Currently Contained To Southeast Asia

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire has joined forces with other states and the world community to try to prevent a potentially deadly epidemic.

Avian flu has been restricted to Southeast Asia, but experts warned state lawmakers Tuesday that if it spread to other parts of the globe, it could be catastrophic. The worst-case scenario of an epidemic would be 852,000 people infected in the state and 2,000 deaths. snip

Nationally, 40,000 Americans die from a normal flu season. Experts said an avian flu epidemic could kill 200,000 across the country.

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Everyone see that? Here it is again: The worst-case scenario of an epidemic would be 852,000 people infected in the state and 2,000 deaths. So how does 852,000 people infected with 2000 deaths in New Hampshire equate to a 70%+ death rate as some have been suggesting lately? It doesn't. Its not even close to a one percent death rate. And that is the worst case scenario.

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1. Perhaps its an attempt by the corporgov media

to inflame public opinion toward removing further civil liberties. Shiavo sound familiar?

Would people be allowed to stay home, isolate themselves, and refuse contact with any others? Or will the medical police come and drag one to treatment facilities?

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2. Think big drug companies and you will have your answer

Especially the ones that specialize in the manufacturing of flu vaccines.

Don

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3. Compare this story to this headline: Bird flu could kill 2 million Brits

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=8418

A UK expert is warning that the bird flu pandemic is imminent and inevitable and two million Britons could die.
The expert, Professor Hugh Pennington, the president of the Society for General Microbiology and professor emeritus of bacteriology at Aberdeen University accuses the British Government of being "very relaxed".

He is also critical of the Government's "optimistic" attitude to a potentially devastating pandemic, comparing it to the complacency over BSE a decade ago.

Professor Pennington, in the starkest warning yet over the potentially devastating impact of the pandemic, said that the number of deaths has been greatly underestimated. He expects the flu - like the 1918 pandemic which killed more people than the First World War - to cause the deaths of many people from pneumonia.

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The real headline should read: Be so scared of a bird flu pandemic in Britain you had better run out and vote for Poodle Blair so he can save you all from this And the British people will all lament to one another "Our hero The Poodle will protect us from this nasty old plague only if we all vote for him next month". And by the way, isn't he dreamy?

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4. Kick to help reduce fear from bid flu

:kick:

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5. Check out this paragraph from the second article

>>>Although the numbers are troubling, experts said there would only be a risk of an epidemic if the virus begins passing from person to person, and that hasn't happened.<<<

If my memory hasn't failed me I would swear we had someone who was trying to convince us that the opposite of this was true?

Don

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6. Deadly Bird Flu Could Spread Beyond Asia

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5665047&cKey=1112882731000

PARIS (Reuters) - The bird flu outbreak that has recently killed 50 people in Asia and cost the region billions ofdollars could spread to other parts of the world, the global animal health body OIE said on Thursday.

"The potential for the disease to spread to other continents is real and the international scientific community cannot remain insensitive to the challenge of preventing this happening," OIE Director-General Bernard Vallat told aconference in Paris. snip

A strain of the disease has recently surfaced in NorthKorea, causing a cull of hundreds of thousands of chickens. (Notice the writer of this scare piece forgets to mention that this new strain in NKorea does not affect humans? Odd.)

Experts fear that if the H5N1 virus mutated into a more contagious form, it might unleash a global flu pandemic thatcould kill millions of people. And then on the other hand it may not but be scared anyway)

Francois-Xavier Meslin of the World Health Organization(WHO) said 79 human cases of bird flu had now been reported inthree countries with a "frightening" 62 percent fatality rate. More of the high death rate lie here. It is actually frightening. Boo!)

Whats that I hear? Oh, its only the MSN quing up the "be very afraid of the bird flu" and the "hurry up and get your vaccine here" music thats going to begin playing 24/7 as soon as the pope is buried. Watch and see.