Thank you P2TM for giving us this early warning.
I heard news of an virulent avian flu appearing in waves in Asian countries last year, and they were slaughtering fowl to try to stop it.
Everyone should be watching the developments on this in Asia this year.
The Spanish flu that killed 20m in 1918 quite possibly started as an avian flu. By shear numbers, BTW, that was the deadliest epidemic in history. A flu like that with the population density we have now could probably kill hundreds of millions. Pay attention to this, everybody, this is nothing to trifle with.
Moreover, it had a different pattern in the people it killed. Ordinarily the flu kills only the very young and the very old. The 1918 flu killed people of all ages. Six months into the epidemic in the US, the Attorney General ran the numbers and concluded that at the rate it was killing, it would kill everyone in the United States.
But then, quite suddenly it stopped. Nobody knows why, except very possibly, it killed everybody who was susceptible to it. But there is no doubt it stopped on its own, and not because of any human action to counter it.
I'm vulnerable to flu due to my job. I will be getting a shot as soon as they become available, but from what you've said, it might be available late.
My own past experience with the flu, however, is that I'm usually very sick within a few hours after I first get symptoms. So, avoiding adventures by the time I know something's wrong will be too late.
Keeping your hands clean is one step, but wearing a SARS mask, too, would be better. Hands are one vector, but birds don't have hands. This bug is spread airborne.
/Zin
-- Modified on 10/1/2004 9:28:16 PM
No joke. The health websites recommend the use of alcohol hand cleaners to all travelers to SE Asia, airline pilots and crews, exceptional care to anyone who works with or near birds. This flu is appearing in asia, has killed 30 of the 45 people positively identified with it. CDC is desperately working to complete the genetic sequence to figure out exactly what it is. Currrently it is impossible to make a vaccine for the H5N1 flu because the technique of flu vaccine requires growing the virus on chick embryos in eggs. This flu kills the embryo before the virus can be made in sufficient quantities.
This could potentially make SARS look like a trivial joke. Please, good people, this is an intimate hobby we enjoy. Take particular care this Fall and Winter, get your flu vaccination ('cause more than one kind of flu can be active in you at the same time, and if two or more flus are in your body, they exchange genetic information, making a whole new form of flu), keep your hands scrupulously clean, and maybe consider curtailing your adventures if you feel like you're coming down with a flu. Don't underestimate the potential of this bugger. The last great flu was in 1918, it is estimated that the bare minimum that it took was 20,000,000 victims.
I did a Google search and found these:
World Health Organization (easy-to-read format): http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section1027/Section1070.htm
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/h5n1.htm
International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/541296.html
Expatica (I am not familiar with this source, so I don't have any idea how reliable it is): http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=12373&name=German+expert+says+no+evidencebird+flu+spreading+between+humans+
-- Modified on 9/30/2004 2:55:18 PM
Thank you P2TM for giving us this early warning.
I heard news of an virulent avian flu appearing in waves in Asian countries last year, and they were slaughtering fowl to try to stop it.
Everyone should be watching the developments on this in Asia this year.
The Spanish flu that killed 20m in 1918 quite possibly started as an avian flu. By shear numbers, BTW, that was the deadliest epidemic in history. A flu like that with the population density we have now could probably kill hundreds of millions. Pay attention to this, everybody, this is nothing to trifle with.
Moreover, it had a different pattern in the people it killed. Ordinarily the flu kills only the very young and the very old. The 1918 flu killed people of all ages. Six months into the epidemic in the US, the Attorney General ran the numbers and concluded that at the rate it was killing, it would kill everyone in the United States.
But then, quite suddenly it stopped. Nobody knows why, except very possibly, it killed everybody who was susceptible to it. But there is no doubt it stopped on its own, and not because of any human action to counter it.
I'm vulnerable to flu due to my job. I will be getting a shot as soon as they become available, but from what you've said, it might be available late.
My own past experience with the flu, however, is that I'm usually very sick within a few hours after I first get symptoms. So, avoiding adventures by the time I know something's wrong will be too late.
Keeping your hands clean is one step, but wearing a SARS mask, too, would be better. Hands are one vector, but birds don't have hands. This bug is spread airborne.
/Zin
-- Modified on 10/1/2004 9:28:16 PM