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Most men think that their wife is pretty. You know how it is, Love is blind.Originally Posted by Soonerdawg
Seriously, the time to be alarmed about bird flu is when it comes an airborne infectious agent passed between humans. Right now, I'm in the watch and wait mode.
I'll have to back up Sooner on this one. I can vouch for his wife's youngest sister, too.
DD, I'm sure Sooner's wife is a very attractive lady. I was just kidding although my mother did tell me once that beauty is cheap and that I should look for character in a wife above all else.
Women with beauty, character and high intelligence can go far in today's world.
You've just described his wife exactly.
Dawgbitten, I have to agree that the potential for this Bird Flu is very worrying. I can readily see how a mutated strain which is easily transmitted could cause havoc within our health care system and could even result in regional quarantines. A highly communicable strain to which we have no resistance could put the country into a situation none of us would ever have imagined. I hate to think what would happen in other, less developed nations. I think it is very prudent for the CDC, government and other agencies to take this seriously. However, I am not so sure what I can do about it other than to be aware of any development in this flu so that I could act quickly to prepare myself with some stockpiling, protective masks, ammunition, etc. It is scary to think how easily our society can break down when overwhelmed with some tragedy. (re: New Orleans)
This is not 1918. Society is fragile with an penchant towards violence running under the surface. With the limited amounts of Tamiflu or vaccine that would be available, decisions would be made on who gets the best opportunity to survive. How many would accept those decisions? Scary to think about.
(I am curious how you were able to get the Tamiflu. I thought the government was already taking over the supply.)
When my daughter went to the Doctor for Bronchitis, I asked him for a prescription. Had it filled with no problem. Plus, I stockpile all medicines because I live in constant fear of things like this.
True, this is all based on potential, but that potential grows larger every day and I personally think countries in the Far East are the ones going to be hard hit.
Flu pandemic now just a matter of time, conference told
Nov 07 9:04 AM US/Eastern
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A three-day council of war on avian influenza opened here to warnings that a flu pandemic was inevitable, could kill millions and inflict up to 800 billion dollars in economic damage if the world failed to defend itself.
An influenza pandemic, potentially unleashed by a mutation of the H5N1 bird flu virus, "is only a matter of time," World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Lee Jong-Wook said Monday.
"We don't know when this will happen, but we know it will happen," Lee said. "(...) If we are unprepared, the next pandemic will cause incalculable human misery... no society will be exempt and no economy will be unscathed."
Samuel Jutzi, director of the animal production and health division at the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), said "the window of opportunity" remained open for tackling the threat at its source: on the farm.
"The virus has not yet reassorted or mutated," said Jutzi. "Action is required now. There is no time to lose here."
The Geneva confab is the seniormost global meeting of doctors, veterinarians and public-health officials since the avian influenza scare erupted in 2003.
It is also the first to gather the World Bank alongside the WHO, the FAO and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), a Paris-based agency that sets veterinary standards in farm trade.
The conference takes place against a backdrop of growing concern about the failure to roll back the H5N1 bird flu virus in Asia, its spread to Europe and the vulnerability of Africa, the world's poorest continent.
"We have experienced a relentless spread of avian flu," Lee said sombrely.
Lee said that 63 deaths, out of 124 known cases of human infection, had been reported to the WHO, 150 million fowl had been slaughtered and the economic cost of the virus was more than 10 billion dollars.
The World Bank's lead economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Milan Brahmbhatt, said that a major pandemic could clip between two or three percent off the global economy, inflicting costs of as much as 800 billion after a year.
For rich countries alone, the cost could be 550 billion dollars, the World Bank said separately in a report issued in Geneva.
At present, H5N1 is transmissible from bird to humans who are closely exposed to virus expelled by sickly fowl in their faeces and nasal secretions.
But it cannot be easily passed from humans to humans. The fear is that the more the virus spreads, the greater chance it has to mutate, picking up genes from ordinary flu that could make it highly contagious from humans to humans.
This feared mutation could occur if H5N1 is transmitted to a human or a pig that already has been infected by the conventional flu virus.
No-one would have any immunity against the new pathogen, which means a pandemic could swiftly spread in the modern era of jet travel and the globalised economy.
The Geneva meeting is looking at national and global preparations for coping with a pandemic.
These include stockpiling drugs and face masks, preparing hospitals for an emergency, setting up emergency transport and food supplies, and advising the public in order to avert a panic.
But a bigger priority is to target the risk of a virus mutation itself, among domestic fowl where H5N1 has holed up.
This means beefing up veterinary surveillance, culling infected poultry, protecting fowl with H5N1 vaccine and reporting cases of infection swiftly and accurately.
Another task is to compensate farmers for culls. If too little is offered, farmers may hide an outbreak of disease; if too much is offered, they may be tempted to deliberately infect their birds, said Brahmbhatt.
Indonesia's state minister for national development planning, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, acknowledged that her country was wrestling with major problems, and "at sometimes we are quite overstretched."
The country lacks local veterinarians to check on flocks and epidemiologists to monitor and evaluate outbreaks and illegal vaccines are circulating, she said.
Mike Ryan, director of the WHO's epidemic and pandemic alert and response unit, said that fixing basic gaps in veterinary and human wealth would not come cheap.
"We need capital investment. This is going to cost money," Ryan said. The World Bank said last Friday it would make up to 500 million dollars available to poor countries to help them meet the threat.
Dawgbitten, look at the bright side. The gov't predicts that only 2% of the American people will die if the H5N1 virus mutates into a flu that humans transmit among themselves. Might be a good time to invest in funeral home stocks??
The bad news is that the virus will probably hit youngerster like DH and Johnny the hardest since they will have the most powerful immune system response to the virus.
As a school teacher, that concerns me a little. I figure I'm likely to be exposed and then expose my wife who is not likely to be exposed. Oh well, greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle
As one exposed you would be one of the first ones to get vaccinated.
Same thing happens every year when their is a shortage of normal flu vaccine.
The Center for Disease Control has released a list of
symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the
following, please seek medical treatment immediately:
1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield.
This is just about some killer flu? When I read the title of the thread I thought someone had some inside info on a contract extension for Bicknell. But, a killer flu? Thank gawd it's nothing to get upset about!
Yes, we need to be paying attention to the real threats to mankind.
Salty,
No offense, but yo momma lied to you. I live in Las Vegas and beauty is VERY expensive out here.
You should see what some of these plastic surgeons get paid...
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