An EMT friend just attended a special meeting for medical personnel

[graywarrior]

and according to him, we are ALL DOOMED, IT IS HOPELESS AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE FROM BIRD FLU.

And to top it all off, they are not supposed to tell the public because we will all panic.

[Bjornsdotter]

1. Swine Flu

....weren't we all supposed to die from that in the late '70's?

Seriouslym how did your friend take it?

Cheers


edit: correct word order is always a good thing

[MercutioATC]

5. Swine Flu wasn't an H5 virus...

We've never been exposed to an H5 virus before so we have absolutely no immunity to one. That's one of the major causes for concern.

[Bjornsdotter]

12. I'll wait to panic

....as of yet it hasn't been passed from person to person.

I know of some professionals who are not very concerned, my friend's husband is a doctor and his opinion, right now, is not to worry. I know others who are freaked out.

Cheers

[MercutioATC]

15. Don't panic, just stay aware and prepared.

Panic solves nothing. Awareness and preparation are good ideas in any situation.

I'm certainly not advocating panic, but sticking one's head in the sand is rarely a good idea, either...

[BrklynLiberal]

7. self-delete.. Wrong place.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Uh, no...not even close.

[MercutioATC]

2. At least they're preparing.

Being calm, informed and prepared makes a hell of a lot more sense then either panicking or ignoring the issue IMO.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. Yeah, my son

is a medic and is getting the same schtick.

[IndyOp]

4. And how many members of your community died from:

Legionnaire's Disease?

Flesh-Eating Bacteria?

Killer Bees?

:shrug:

[Critters2]

41. One of my cousins did get flesh-eating bacteria

from a horse somehow. Lost fingers and toes. But he didn't die.

[Thtwudbeme]

45. Sadly, one of my favorite DUers died from the flesh eating bacteria

Nostamj.

RIP---I loved him on DU; his posts were awesome.

[DS1]

6. I'm supposed to believe that these cheap bastards would waste money

on telling EMTs that we're all doomed?

[Demeter]

11. They Don't Spare The Sheckels When Spreading Terror

Why, look at how much money has gone down the Iraqi rathole!

[Maddy McCall]

27. I'm a first responder with...

a volunteer fire department, and I asked our assistant chief two weeks ago about whether or not he thought that we should be ordering paper masks. He said, "Why?"

Not a word has been mentioned to us about it.

I'm sure that the OP's story is true--that it did happen--but it could have just been an alarmist supervisor overstating the problem.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. NY Times reporting that the Bird Flu is on the wane.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1180457

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. And the New York Times is never wrong.

[havocmom]

9. My sis wanted to know if my rural state 'has stockpiles of medicine'

for the bird flu. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry. IF it mutates to allow human to human spread, and IF it turns into the big pandemic some are insisting on, what do we have that works anyway? :shrug:

Reading that there would only be enough vaccine for about 10% of the population after they shoot up the medical staffs. Some want elderly and kids to get shots. Some say, no, let the old go, give shots to people with life ahead of them ( I read that to mean: people who are still working and can still be exploited).

I say: Vaccine? WHAT vaccine?

[sandnsea]

19. hehe

Don't come into contact with any other humans, and you won't get any flu anyway. That's a lot easier to do where you live, did that not occur to your sister?? And no, there is no vaccine because they can't make it until there is actually a human transmittable strain. Just like with every other flu that started with birds because that's where ALL flu starts. If they tell people the truth about flu in general, then they'd know there's nothing to get hysterical about.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

20. You're correct. The variant that will easily transmit from human...

...to human has not yet emerged, and that is the variant that vaccine-makers will need to be able to produce a viable vaccine. The question in some circles is whether or not a vaccine can be prepared quickly enough to get into production.

[napi21]

14. Whatever. I'm not going to worry about it.

I'm thinking Y2K here!

[graywarrior]

16. Did the bird flu replace the mosquito disease that was going

around a few years back that was going to kill us all?

[MrModerate]

21. "West Nile virus"? -- Nope, it's still around.

In any case, with global warming a lot of diseases we're uprepared for are going to come knocking on the northern hemisphere's door and the range of the diseases and their vectors moves relentlessly north.

We're still doomed.

[hobbit709]

17. When in danger

or in doubt
run in circles
scream and shout.

[KeepItReal]

18. Then why isn't everyone in Asia already dead, if bird flu is so deadly?

That's where it originated, right?

I watched a documentary that showed individual members of a family who showed no effects of bird flu, while other members of the same family with contact to the same infected poultry died.

[MercutioATC]

22. Because it hasn't mutated into a human-human strain.

Maybe it will, maybe it won't. However, its rate of mutation has increased and every human or swine infection increases the chance that it will mutate into a human-human bug.

It's nothing to panic about but it's nothing to ignore, either.

[kestrel91316]

46. Correct. Thank you.

[sandnsea]

23. It hasn't mutated

They're worried about when the virus mutates into a form that can be transmitted through people. Almost all flus are "avian", from birds. So the virus will mutate, they'll make a vaccine, just like they do with every other flu virus. This is just so much stupidity I can't even believe it.

[MercutioATC]

30. How long do you think it takes to develop and distribute a vaccine?

"they'll make a vaccine, just like they do with every other flu virus."

Well, yes. Hopefully they'll have a vaccine developed and distributed 4-6 months after they isolate the virus. That's a LONG time when you're talking about a virus that we have zero immunity to that also has a scary mortality rate.

Yes, the mortality rate would likely drop in a successful pandemic-creating virus, but we're starting at over 50%. Even if that was reduced to 3-5%, the dead would still number in the tens of millions.

[kestrel91316]

47. Another good, informative, logical post. Thanks.

[screembloodymurder]

24. If it happens it will be an engineered strain released by

you know who.

[MercutioATC]

31. Like the Spanish Flu was in 1918?

:eyes:

[NC_Nurse]

25. Remember SARS?

:eyes:

There isn't a pandemic yet, may never be. May not be ANYTHING we can do to prevent it.

Wash your hands, stay away from sick people...the same things you should do if you want to avoid a cold or the flu.

No guarantee on any vaccine...ever..for any flu. Relax, we'll all die of something.

[WinkyDink]

26. I hear it goes well with Kool-Aid.

Didn't they read the U.K. Mirror article that said the U. of London found a common hand-soap kills 95% of the bird-flu virus?

[SmokingJacket]

28. I'll worry a little if it makes it over here...

and I'll worry some more if it mutates to human-human transition.

But now? There's not much I can do, so I'll spend my time worrying about the million other things I can worry about: radon, necrotizing fasciitis, cancer, staph, Lyme disease, toxic mold, West Nile (mosquitoes are back!), mad cow (so what happened with that cow that had it in Alabama? never heard back on that one).

Oh, yeah, and all the financial stuff: Iranian bourse, chinese debt, collapse of the housing market, rising cost of oil...

Etc.

[SoCalDem]

29. We're ALL gonna die from something already

We just don't know when or what :)

[graywarrior]

32. It's the secret "special" meetings that get me.

So every EMT, paramedic, nurse walking around knws something we don't and they can't tell us. This country has become so tight ass secretive, it amazes me.

[MercutioATC]

33. It's hardly a "secret" thing...the information is out there.

First responders are getting briefed. I think that's a good thing.

If somebody wants the same information they're getting, all they have to do is Google it. The hard part is separating the chaff from the wheat.

[graywarrior]

42. They were asked to sign something saying they would not talk

about it. That's secretive to me. Pisses me off. Nothing like panicking the health professionals, who live on the adrenalin of disasters.

[kestrel91316]

48. You mean they are REQUIRED to keep the public UNINFORMED????

Sick MF's............

[graywarrior]

49. Yes. Don't even tell them they're dying while they die.

[havocmom]

39. They tell the EMTs and nurses it's hush hush, knowing THEY will tell

everybody they had this big hush hush meeting... makes people more paniced.

TERRA TERRA was wearing thin. Gotta find a new way to chase people back under their beds. More and more are finding their feet (and spines) and taking to the streets against the terra mongers.

Oh, and Rove is in deep doo doo

[graywarrior]

44. I worked at Mass Generals during the American Legionnaires

thing. We were all in a panic about it. They actually thought they found some in the air conditioning ducts. Took all kinds of swabs, cultures, etc. Turned out to be nothing. Finding a missing amputated leg left by dispatch in an elevator was more tragic.

[rockymountaindem]

34. Good thing you've got that duck taped down

Otherwise he could be the death of us all!

[graywarrior]

40. Hope he doesn't get lynched

[peacetalksforall]

35. OK whate are we supposed to BUY? They always want us to buy

something when there is fright.

[spinbaby]

36. Tuna fish!

Put it under your bed with the duct tape and plastic sheeting. Then you'll be safe. Somebody in the government says so so it must be true.
:eyes:

[Island Blue]

37. Don't forget the powdered milk.

That and the tuna are essential. Make sure you put powdered milk under your bed though and not regular milk. If that stuff spoils it could kill you. :crazy:

[uppityperson]

43. Do you have a bed? Is there room underneath it? Don't store in pantry

pantry stored tuna and powdered milk don't work. Has to be under the bed for that magic anti-bird-flu extra.

[MercutioATC]

50. Same as you'd buy for any disaster...

Make sure you have the basics...food, water and shelter for a few weeks.

Some are preparing for longer stretches, but it can be done sensibly. When you grocery shop, just throw a few extra canned goods in the cart. Whether it's H5N1 or a hurricane or a blizzard that knocks out power, there's nothing wrong with having some food and water in the house to tide you over.

[bemildred]

38. Yeah, yeah, the Walking Dude is coming ....

We are all going to die someday of something.
Why not Bird Flu?