Would you ALL calm down about Bird Flu

[Timmy5835]

Everyone is in a panic about the same old rehashed info. This means NO ONE really knows. This could kill us all or flash out to nothing, NO ONE at this time can tell you. I tend to look at the past. What happened to the Hong Kong Flu, the Swine Flu, SARS. This also was supposed to kill millions but DID NOT. Not even close. Look, the media love to play this stuff up. Anything to get eyeballs to watch their shows and read their papers. I think it's now time to step back and take a common sense look at this.

[loveable liberal]

1. Everyone knows its a biological weapon released by accident!

hehehehehehehe!!! Run for the hills!!!

[Singular73]

2. Congress wouldn't spend 4 BILLION dollars on this..

If something wasn't up.

[Double T]

11. Bologna!! Repubs in Congress have made the bird flew histeria.....

smokescreen to draw your attention away from the corrupt republicans and neocons and their indictments. They also will gladly throw 4 Billion dollars away to make it seem more real!!!! It is all about generating fear with these bastards, so they can later tell us how great they are and how they saved us from the dreaded disease.

[John Q. Citizen]

18. There are thousands of reputible researchers world wide who

recognize the real potential for a killer flu pandemic.

These are not people who are part of the Republican agenda.

[Double T]

28. You are correct!! The rest of the world has been SERIOUSLY talking....

about a flu pandemic for at least the last 5 years, while the USA really had very little interest. NOW SUDDENLY when ALL the repubs are under fire for their corrupt behavior, the USA finally decides to make a BIG deal over the POTENTIAL flu pandemic. Creating hysteria and fear is right up bushco's alley; NOW they can save us from terra and a flu pandemic.

[Canadiana]

26. YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT n/t

[Timmy5835]

20. You must be kidding, Right?

It's called Pork Barrel.

[mattclearing]

31. Are you kidding?

Congress can't wait to throw money around. The Federal Government is one big clearance sale. We are angling for international bankruptcy.

Needless to say, they will spend money on anything and everything except social programs, which they will cut in order to further distribute our tax dollars to defense contractors.

[knowbody0]

3. welcome to DU Timmy

fear and consumerism rule our nation.
an imaginary enemy in a paranoid society perfect filler for non news reporting 24/7.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. That was one argument made about the levies and the loss of

protective wetlands around N.O.

No one knew when a big hurricane would hit, so stop worrying about it...

[NNN0LHI]

16. And Marshall Applewhite argued that the Hale-Bopp Comet and aliens ...

...were planning to take over the planet.



Don

[John Q. Citizen]

17. Which is why I didn't get too worried about about Hale-Bopp

yet am concerned about the inevitable flu pandemic which will occur someday.

And the Avian flu, according to the overwhelming numbers of researchers, is a likely candidate.

If you read about the avian type flu that swept the planet in 1918 you know it can and will happen again.

Or you can discredit the warnings of thousands of reputable researchers by comparing them with "Bo."

[kestrel91316]

5. I don't know of anybody here who is "in a panic". However,

people are justifiably concerned about the possibility of the Avian Flu in Asia (H5N1) mutating so that it is highly infectious p2p. Especially since they have concluded that the 1918 flu was avian, and didn't need much change all to become lethal in people. H5N1, when it has infected people so far, has a 50% mortality rate.

Anybody with any background in infectious diseases has got to be concerned about this, and if you factor in our government's woeful lack of preparedness, you have a potential catastrophe on your hands. So folks NEED to be thinking about ifs, whats, and whens. Contingency planning is common sense.

No one is forcing you to think or plan ahead. Now go back to playing Nintendo.

[Timmy5835]

7. I am not saying to note prepare

Preparing is just common sense. But when you have the President of the U.S. talking about calling in the military and instituting martial law when we don't even have a problem, that's when I put my foot down. Oh, and by the way, only a putz plays on a Nintendo.

[kestrel91316]

14. You sure don't want to know what I think of Bush's plan to call in

the military, rather than ramping up spending on PUBLIC HEALTH.

Haw I mentioned yet how much I HATE these people?

[SaveElmer]

19. They aren't that certain about the death rate...

This is the reported mortality rate of those hospitalized. From what I have read and heard from others, the mortality rate may be significantly lower in that those with milder cases were not hospitalized because they simply thought they had the standard case of the flu. So there may be many more who were infected and did not know it.

We have been going over and over the worst case scenario, but the fact is that it is more likely than not that this will not turn into a pandemic. And many scientists whose comments I have seen say if this strain does mutate into a H-H form, it is likely to a milder version. Viruses that do not kill off their hosts are more successful in nature than otherwise.

The original poster is right...we are rehashing the same info over and over getting more worked up about it each time. There is reason for concern and for vigilance, but it is no more a reason that a week ago.

[kestrel91316]

23. Even if it tones down, it's still going to be a disease to reckon with....

1918 H1N1 only had a mortality of, what, 1.5 or 2.5%??

[SaveElmer]

24. No doubt...but

That can be attributed to many things.

World War I was still going, we were shipping sick soldiers overseas, and many were coming back. Handwashing as a part of personal hygiene was not well understood or practiced by many. Many of the populations in Europe were especially susceptible having gone through 3 years of war. Many were already ill, and many were malnourished.

And of course they were not able to respond rapidly to local outbreaks, to quarantine them as effectively as we can now. There was also no capability to produce vaccinations, and no drugs to treat the disease.

[triguy46]

29. Predicting death rates....

When we don't have a human to human vector yet seems a little like crystal ball work...Hell, pick a number, any number...

[NC_Nurse]

6. I find this pretty amusing

It is amazing how nobody seems to remember what a straw man SARS turned out to be. But we have to have something to obsess about here. Never mind the conituing threats of war, global warming, peak oil, polluted water and food.....do not look at the man behind the curtain, Dorothy!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

8. I'll worry about it when somebody in this country contracts it.

[niyad]

9. exactly what I have been thinking!!

[bigbrother05]

10. The thing we need to worry about

is if the Prez is up for the job, does he qualified people in position, can we trust his decision making, this is what puts the fear in me, not the fact that he has blown this out of proportion, to put the fear of God in people.

[Timmy5835]

12. Now this I could not agree more on

Hear....Hear.

[IChing]

13. I just talked to my son and daughter today in Denmark

The danish news is even saying this is being used as a fear tactic on the US populous.

And by the way, Danish News is rated pretty high as compared to our 29th standing in the world on free press. Don't you think the Danes would be affected before us?
Don't you think they would be looking into the health of their citizens?

And yes the use of the military that * mention was a concern, not the disease or possible transmission into humans from birds but the statement on using the military.

[Porcupine]

15. Bird Flu panic is just to push real news off the edge

of the papers and news broadcasts. If the * administration had any intention of DOING something they would be beefing up the public helath system. As that is NOT happening, just try and see a doctor if you're broke, it's a load of crap.

The administrations answer to a pandemic will be to shut down transportation links and shoot anyone leaving the first affected area. Of course thier cronies will get out and some of them will spread the disease so it will all be moot.

But hey, don't pay attention to the losing war or your heating bill.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Hong Kong flu made me sick as hell

for three weeks, but I survived without a vaccination, and I haven't had one for any of the other flu outbreaks. I'm taking my chances on this one, too.

[Vinca]

22. The real mystery is why it's suddenly an emergency.

Hasn't this been in existence for a couple of years and now, all of a sudden, just as Rove is set to be indicted it's a huge, threatening, national priority. It may very well be what they say, but Bush is like the boy who cried wolf and I'm not so sure I'm buying it. Where was the concern 2 years ago? Why aren't we stopping people from affected countries from entering ours if there's a serious threat? Why aren't there bans on travel to affected countries? It's hard not to believe this isn't another "terra" alert.

[SaveElmer]

25. It's actually been around for 8 years...

I think it is big now for a variety of reasons.

First, it is a concern and needs to be dealt with. And the recent statements by WHO and others has spotlighted it. Bushie read the book on the 1918 flu and now has another crisis he can handle.

There have been new outbreaks in Indonesia and VietNam, and some birds have migrated to Eastern Europe and Turkey.

What hasn't changed apparently is the disease itself, which still cannot efficiently infect human to human.

[Silverhair]

27. Only recently has it started killing humans.

As long as it stayed in poultry, it was an agricultural problem. I think the first human deaths occured in 2004.

That is when it started showing up on the media's radar screen. The World Health Organization began to issue statements on the dangers of Avian Flu. Do you think the United Nations is part of the Bush machine and started putting out those statements to help him?

[leesa]

30. No kidding! They pull this flu scare every year...about 30 people die and

thousands of teevee hours are spent terrifying people. And, Americans, being the perfect marketing playthings, fall for it every time.