whos afraid of this bird flu?are we gonna have a global pandemic?would a govt create a virus like that j4thoit
540816
There is nothing to be afraid of. This pandemic paranoia is simply paranoia.. People are going on about a flu which has been shown to be almost impossible to pass from birds to humans.. \nHuman flu kills an average of 40,000 americans or so every year. Yet it seems the americans are keen to divert attention away from this fact and go for impossible flus.\nIf you remember SARS was going to wipe out the universe but it did not..\nIf the virus mutated and became a flu that could be passed freely between people it would cease to be bird flu and would have become a human flu.. \nThere is no sense in this assumption, however we don't know enough about flus or where they actually originate.\nI get really annoyed about all this scaremongery about bird flu, sars, global warming when all people have to do is just think for themselves and see there is absolutely no justification for what is being said by certain "professionals."
38619
The bird flu is of the type H5N1.  This refers to the protein structure of the virus.  The virus can currently pass from bird to bird and from bird to human.  Bird to human spread is difficult.  Close contact with infected birds is needed, which is why it has been mainly poultry workers who have been infected.\n\nThere is a very high mortality rate in humans who contract H5N1.  However once the virus has infected a human it is unable to spread human to human and is therefore contained.  The worry is that the virus is able to mutate to allow human to human spread.  Humans have no natural immunity to H5N1 so if the virus does mutate there would be a Pandemic.\n\nAuthorities are  now trying to contain the virus to prevent the spread in bird  populations.  If they are successful the virus will be unable  to mutate and unnable to jump  the species barrier.\n\nGood web resources are the WHO and CDC websites and also the UK's Health Protection Agency.
309598
I think they would have to. That pic is probably the CDC not taking any chances, but if someone showed up with it, they couldn't keep doctors and hospitals quiet. I hate to say it, but the US has enough on its plate now not having to deal with Bird Flu.
129127
It could become a pandemic, although it's not as likely as the media tries to sell. The avian influeza virus could become infectious to humans, but it must exchange gentic material with the human influenza virus to do so. The Influenza virus mutates its surface epitopes about avery 9 months, give or take. That's why there's no cure for the common cold, you get abrand new one every year. That means the the avian flu virus must find a compatible human flu virus to merge, and with its high mutation rate, it's ot as likely as the media believes.
348526
You should definitely have power point pictures/transparencies or actual pictures of tons upon tons of the poultry that is being destroyed because of the possibility of infection, this image will really grab attention. You should discuss how many people have actually been affected and relate this to the number of people who die every day from things like cancer and heart disease to put this pandemonium in some perspective. You may want to discuss the possibility that even if we successfully treat affected people the virus could mutate and form a resistant type.
619059
As of yesterday,Oprah did a special interview with a man from the CDC. \n\nHe readily admitted that we can only be prepared. There is only so much of Tamaflu to go around right now. He stated that it would first be given to healthcare workers so they would not be bringing it home to their families and also because we need heathcare workers in a crisis such as this could present.\n\nHe stated also that even if it isn't the bird flu...that something like the 1918 pandemic will happen sooner or later. It was interesting that he said that bodies were exhumed in Alaska from people who died from the flu of 1918. From the bodies remains they were able to (can't think of the word)  basically create the 1918 virus in a test tube. From this they were able to determine how it spread,and came to the conclusion that it passed from birds directly to people without any type of warning.\n\nPersonally I don't think we are prepared enough should a pandemic occur. But that is what having faith is for. You can't live each day of your life in fear. Life goes on. All we can do is be well informed and do our best to prevent the spread of the illness should something like this ever happen.
462821
We only have it in Scotland. But its going to spread, and they government being as it is, is sitting on their butts, doing nothing. Considering that Avian Flu has been around for close on 3 years now, is it any wonder that it has spread so far?
567857
Yes I have used natural anti-virals/bacterials for years and they work great. I don't fear the bird flu, westnile, etc. You have to take charge of your health because if you are counting on the government to help you, you are gonna die.
655911
Destruction of poultry - would that amount to an act of terrorism ? I don't think so. \n\nA better and more dangerous method ,appropriate to a terrorist mind would be to introduce the mutated(the ones which can spread from human to human by respiratory droplets) strains of Bird Flu into some country.The resultant epidemic and the large scale of deaths would create panic amongst citizens and thereby qualify as an act of terrorism.
285043
I have heard stories of killer bees being a huge threat, a huge flu season for the last three years, so I'm a little skeptical about this bird flu.\n\nThat being said having an emergency plan for any contingency is ALWAYS a good thing.  The old Boy Scout motto of being alway prepared comes to mind
451441
Tough Question - My glib answer is that it won't happen because I am taking precautions for an outbreak. Evey time I take precautions for a disaster nothing happens;) \n\nWhy I am worried is because one case of human to human transmission has happened in Thailand. Also the flu has a week incubation period and during that time it can be spread.   \n\nSpanish flu killed between 50 & 100 million in 1918 and started off as an avian virus. Experts say that the Spanish flu virus had 12 mutations which made it adapt from just infecting birds to infecting pigs and humans.  The mass fowl cullings around the world seem to be preventing any adapted viruses from starting a human pandemic. However the virus has reached countries that don't have the infrastructure, because of bad government, war and poverty, to identify and contain H5N1 in birds. This means that if the adaption happens it could get a foothold in the human population and then start spreading. \n\nThe next point is what do you mean by "really become  contagious?" \n\nMost of the models of the spread of a pandemic are based on past infections. Most predictions are scientifically valid but they depend on a number of factors that can not be controlled. If avian flu mutates to human to human it may become less lethal and it may not be as contagious as it is now. The only way that the statistics will be proved depends on what the H5N1 virus does next.\n\nThe range of the numbers show just how difficult it is to get a clear idea of what may happen. Here are some numbers I crunched based on assumptions and a worldwide population of 6 billion. Note fatalities are based on no medical treatment. \n\n1.) Bird flu stays in birds and can only be transmitted through eating uncooked chicken, exposure to dead birds and drinking or eating things that have been infected.\n% of world population that gets sick 0.000040%\nNo. Sick 2,400\n% fatalities 63.64%\nNo. fatalities 1,527\n\n2.) Bird flu mutates and is really weakened in the mutation \n% of world population that gets sick 25%\nNo. Sick 1,500,000,000\n% fatalities 0.50% (half a percent)\nNo. fatalities 7,500,000\n\n3.) Bird flu mutates and is as virulent as the spanish flu of 1918 (WHO figures) \n% of world population that gets sick 50%\nNo. Sick 3,000,000,000\n% fatalities 5%\nNo. fatalities 150,000,000\n\nThese models become scarier and scarier the worse the plagues and disasters used as a base. All they really say is that if there is a pandemic people, without medical help, will die. They don't say that it will happen. (If you want to really scare yourself or someone else do the maths on bubonic plague 80% infected and 80% fatalities).  \n\nSo overall I'll say there is a chance of this avian fly being the next pandemic. The chance is not so terrifyingly likely that I am going to sell up and move to a defendable mountaintop and start shooting at strangers. However the chance is big enough that I have spent about $100 dollars on Tamiflu and food - just in case. \n\nThe only people who have told me with a 100% certainty that the pandemic is going to happen and everyone will die are people who are trying to sell me stuff to survive the coming pandemic. I think they are pretty biased.
13027
There is no vaccine for it and low resistance. People who are weak will die more easily. It is not 100% fatal, just very severe.\nThe real danger may be that it could reduce the population of birds, both domestic and wild.  The damage to food production could be very bad.
269756
As of now, several answers to your questions are unknown. While this disease has been in the news for quite a while, it is still a new disease, and we don't know much about it yet. Only time will tell what is going to happen, and what the effects of this disease are.\n\nHere is what is known about it:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_flu
221980
Hmmm, not sure what you mean about resolution, but one of the means by which the US gov't has proposed to use in case of bird flu is martial law.  Everyone will be restricted to their houses until the virus has died off.  \n\nThe Bush administration was criticized for such a plan, and I'm not sure how effective it would be, but there's one plan for you!
258778
Most of our info is very speculative as of now, as when it comes to future mutations of the bird flue, all we have are our fears. Really, we're worried about a recurrance of the Spanish Flue, which killed millions in the early twentieth century. As of now however, there has been only one case of bird flue transmitted between people, the rest has been from bird to poultry worker (total infected is around 100 people I believe). The big deal is, from the infected we've seen, it has a 50% mortality rate, and this is before it's even fully evolved to attack humans.\n\nHowever, a good deal of this is speculation, as it is easily possible that many more have been infected and fealt no adverse effects, or nothing more than a cold. All the cases we now know about were severe enough to warrant hospitalization, but what if there are many more that never had to go to the hospital, and so we never learned about them?\n\nBut, with 2 mutations left to go to be fully suited to attack humans, the avian flue (H1N1) it can't be long until we know for sure.\n\nTo prevent this, people are attempting to quarentine and kill ay infected birds nd poultry, but as you can imagine, this is easier said than done. We're also stocking up on Tamiflu, which some say is our best shot at an antiviral for fighting this thing.\n\nThe Spanish Flu ended when it burned itself out. It moved so quickly that it killed off the more suceptable humans, and the tougher ones became immune. It had nowhere left to go, and died off. If the avian flu is anything like it, the same will happen, though our use of antivirals may hamper this.\n\nThese pandemics are a natural part of population control and evolution. Who can say what we do to our species when we do all we can to fight it, and keep it from having an impact upon us?
869350
his estimate is low.\nvery low.\nthis plague , when it mutates into human to human contact,\nwill cause world wide chaos,\nand will kill 200 milion people.\n\ni lost my grandmother, 2 uncles, and my father was almost\nkilled from the 1918 - 1919 Flu Pandemic.\nthat pandemic killed 50 million people worldwide.\nrecent research indicates that flu was an avain strain.\nthe world has almost 3 times the population now,\nand with the fast transit of people and goods that exists today\nit will spread rapidly when it mutates.
141270
Whatever ...\nBoth will now die due to the avian flu ..