Avian Flu

[Young_Warrior]

will add to our entertainment. Bush does provide alot of jokes.

 

[Zardoz]

Why all the "hype"? Because of 1918:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/

That little demon was a monster that is still not fully understood to this day. We still don't know what was going on, and why it was so horrendously virulent. Lots of researchers use the term "mystery" when they talk about it. The current strain is similar to that bad boy:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1005_051005_bird_flu.html

Is it over-hyped? Maybe.

Maybe not...

 

[Grand Prix]

Viruses and bacteria thrive on muddy corspes and great loss of life. WW1 is a constant reminder of that. WW2 may have had far more deaths worldwide, but the bodies wern't left to rot in trenches and "no-man's-land".

Of course this bird flu can't be blamed on the Second Gulf War, I was merely commentating on The Spanish Flu and WW1.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

If you get it, all you need is Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, Dayquil, and Sprite. It worked on SARS.

This is about as overhyped as SARS. Sure, it's a concern for a lot of Eastern nations, but I'm not too concerned for my own safety. I'm going to take the stance of a distanced viewer of this.

 

[Blake]

If you get it, all you need is Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, Dayquil, and Sprite.

Bah, I was going to say that!

I’m not concerned about this. If I get it, and survive, I’ll be sick for a week then ge over it. If I get it, and die, I’ll be dead and I won’t know the difference.

That being said – I have no concerns about even getting it so it really doesn’t make any difference.

Blake

 

[ExigeEvan]

So have any of the drugs manufacturers done this in the US?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/26/ixnewstop.html

I couldn't believe it when I read it. Okay, I don't believe that Bird Flu is a problem, but says omething more serious appeared would these companies do the same again? These people would put peoples lives at risk because of their own financial gain. However, why the goverment hasn't said they will cover the costs of the extra facilities I don't know.

 

[Young_Warrior]

Just been watchin a news report about the bird flu and the FSA have said "we advise people to not eat raw chicken at this time"

The government thinks were idiots.

 

[s0nny80y]

ZZZ...

Do you know why the media is trying to hype this unnecessarily? The minute something goes wrong, the minute a person dies from this in the US, the media will blame President Bush.

The Flu, gas prices, terrorists, hurricanes, and now a deadly virus from birds. When will the media grow up?

Are you kidding? Bush just asked Congress for almost $2 billion for bird flu vaccines today. It's only a matter of time until it reaches the states.

 

[Swift]

Are you kidding? Bush just asked Congress for almost $2 billion for bird flu vaccines today. It's only a matter of time until it reaches the states.

That may be true, but that doesn't make Viper Zero's statement any less valid.

 

[Famine]

If you get it, all you need is Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, Dayquil, and Sprite.

Bah, I was going to say that!

I’m not concerned about this. If I get it, and survive, I’ll be sick for a week then ge over it. If I get it, and die, I’ll be dead and I won’t know the difference.

That being said – I have no concerns about even getting it so it really doesn’t make any difference.

Blake

I DID say it...

It's 'flu.

Sit in bed for five days with some Lemsip and chicken soup, sleeping 12 hours a day and watching crap daytime TV and you'll be fine.

 

[Swift]

It's 'flu.

Sit in bed for five days with some Lemsip and chicken soup, sleeping 12 hours a day and watching crap daytime TV and you'll be fine.

Sometimes Famine, you post sheer genius.

It's amazing what people will believe if it's hyped up enough.

 

[Young_Warrior]

I hope it really screw things up that people cant work for like a month so I can go looting and take up jobs that im not qualified for but people are desperate for workers. Maybe stick up a couple money vans as police will be scarce.

Im joking BTW.

But I would loot if I needed to.

 

[FoolKiller]

Are you kidding? Bush just asked Congress for almost $2 billion for bird flu vaccines today. It's only a matter of time until it reaches the states.

This quote is taken from this MSNBC article. It is on page 2.

Since 2003, at least 62 people in Southeast Asia have died from H5N1; most regularly handled poultry.

OH MY GOD!!!! 62!!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!! [heavily laden sarcasm]

Yes, it has been hyped. 62 people in nearly three years is not worth getting all in a tizzy over. That isn't even taking in to account the fact that it was only people who worked with poultry almost daily in countries without our advanced medical science. So, unless you work for Tyson in Southeast Asia I wouldn't even worry about it.

To put this in true perspective; according to the CDC the common flu kills 36,000 people every year in the US (not third world countries). Why aren't we freaking out about that?

And according to NationMaster.com 727 people died from Acute Nasopharyngitis (Common Cold) worldwide in 2003. That is almost ten times what bird flu has killed since then.

To sum up: HYPE!

 

[Swift]

But I would loot if I needed to.

Wow, so you'd engage in criminal activity just because huh? Interesting. oh well.

And yes Foolkiller, it's all hype!

 

[194GVan]

WOW!!! an actual media source printed that? I thought they were the ones doing all the hyping? What side are you on guys?!?!

 

[Young_Warrior]

LOL ok "looking for food" but if going by the american news coverage and the neighborhood I live in they would say I was looting. But id only be looting from my friend as he owns my local convience store.

 

[FoolKiller]

WOW!!! an actual media source printed that? I thought they were the ones doing all the hyping? What side are you on guys?!?!

You will notice that is on the second page of the article near the bottom, in a section after the original story. The subheader above it is "Stockpiling shots," and the article becomes just statistical background information. This is how media outlets protect themselves from accusation. All they have to do when accused of hype is point out where it was buried and say that it was in plain sight.

Even I was tired of hearing about how the government was preparing for a pandemic flu outbreak like the one we had in 1918 (during hard times and without the advanced medical science we have today). The hope is that you will have quit reading by that point or that you will be so glossy-eyed that you will read right over that important detail.

It is just like any other research that says some everyday product will kill us all with some horrible disease. Keep reading and eventually you will almost always find where it says that these are just preliminary results and much more research is needed to verify the data (read: give us more grants).

 

[Zardoz]

...Even I was tired of hearing about how the government was preparing for a pandemic flu outbreak like the one we had in 1918 (during hard times and without the advanced medical science we have today)...

*ahem* :

Previous post

Read the Stanford article. We'll probably never understand what that thing was. It was ferocious. It killed people in less than 12 hours after the onset of symptoms. The worry is that the virus we're seeing today will mutate into something like it, because they appear to be similar.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

I DID say it...

Ah, but not quite. You also forgot the Sprite.

 

[stumpydino]

bush is very good at preparing after the events even when he knows theyr gonna happen

 

[FoolKiller]

*ahem* :

Previous post

Read the Stanford article. We'll probably never understand what that thing was. It was ferocious. It killed people in less than 12 hours after the onset of symptoms. The worry is that the virus we're seeing today will mutate into something like it, because they appear to be similar.

Well, with amazing quarantine conditions such as these it is a wonder everyone didn't die.

You cannot compare conditions of nearly 100 years ago to today and say it is all the same. They didn't have medical science the way we do today, they didn't even know about influenze, they were completely caught off guard and thought that it was a cold, and it was during a wartime when resources weren't at their best. The 1918 pandemic is a poor model for what could happen today, especially when I have yet to hear of one confirmed story of an avian flu patient dying under proper medical conditions.

bush is very good at preparing after the events even when he knows theyr gonna happen

Huh? I don't think I get it. No, wait. I do. Blame (bash) Bush. I forgot how that works. Sorry.

If you want to attack Bush attack him for wasting billions of dollars on vaccines that won't prevent avian flu if it does mutate. It will only, theoretically, lessen the severity. Bush himself admitted this, he just left out the wasting money part.

 

[Young_Warrior]

Is it me or has the number of human bird flu cases incresed dramatically over the past week or so.

 

[Zardoz]

Well, this is pretty amazing:

"Cytokine storm"

I've never heard of such a thing. It explains the huge toll among healthy young adults in 1918. It also explains why people often died less than 24 hours after first showing symptoms.

 

[Young_Warrior]

If that is true Im gonan be taking this think alot more seriously now.

 

[Zrow]

Sometimes Famine, you post sheer genius.

Pssh, sometimes? The man's a stranger to stupid.

 

[a6m5]

Well, this is pretty amazing:

"Cytokine storm"

I've never heard of such a thing. It explains the huge toll among healthy young adults in 1918. It also explains why people often died less than 24 hours after first showing symptoms.

Great find. When I was reading up on Spanish Flu, I did find out that more younger men were dying, especially soldiers. At one point, I thought of the possibility of Spanish Flu being the out of control biological weapon. Cytokine, I'll have to remember that, as soon as I figure out how to pronounce it.

 

[SS69]

if it does strike and kill a lot of people then i just see it as nature's way of diming our population.

 

[Talentless]

The accusations that this issue is hyped is based on a myriad of presumptions, not the least of which is that the mutation has 50/50 odds of occuring and therefore likely won't, and that the infrastructure exists all ready to better handle any pandemics than was done in 1918 and the other periods of the 20th century effected by avian flus. I believe this attitude borders on arrogance and is naively dismissive. All governments are within their moral obligations to their peoples to prepare for such an event, and media and government collusion to "overhype" the pandemic possibility is not an unforgivable sin. No, an unlimited budget is not wise, but something must be done, even if the odds are 3 to 10 of a pandemic occuring.

 

[a6m5]

The accusations that this issue is hyped is based on a myriad of presumptions, not the least of which is that the mutation has 50/50 odds of occuring and therefore likely won't, and that the infrastructure exists all ready to better handle any pandemics than was done in 1918 and the other periods of the 20th century effected by avian flus. I believe this attitude borders on arrogance and is naively dismissive. All governments are within their moral obligations to their peoples to prepare for such an event, and media and government collusion to "overhype" the pandemic possibility is not an unforgivable sin. No, an unlimited budget is not wise, but something must be done, even if the odds are 3 to 10 of a pandemic occuring.

I agree. People say stuff like how common cold or flu kills more people than the bird flu. Problem is, bird flu has a kill rate of over 50%.

 

[Talentless]

I agree. People say stuff like how common cold or flu kills more people than the bird flu. Problem is, bird flu has a kill rate of over 50%.

People also compare car accidents and lightning strikes to deaths by terrorist acts. Who knows why so many like to pit apples and oranges?