Pandemic Flu/"Bird Flu" Outbreak?

Last night i stayed up wacthing a special on the science channel called "Pandemic Flu, Bird flu outbreak." Seeing how the virus, albeit in it's infant stage, could mutate into a strain that can spell the end for millions! Do you think that we can find something to stop it? Or when it does evovle will it be the end?



(Sorry for poor grammar. I'm eating and typing at the same time, while my plate is in front of the keyboard.)

 

yeah
shoot the birds who are spreading it

 

That would cause it to spread more. It's in their blood, so when you shoot them the particles enter the air from the spots of blood.

 

This is quite old, although there are random outbreaks every so often that put the thought of it back in everyone's minds.

Really, they already have vaccines to innoculate the workers in key industries so the country will keep running. If it did mutate into a strain which could pass from human to human, it would be quite dangerous as I think the motality rate was somewhere around 50% if not higher =/

 

The Bird Flu has been out for a good year or two at least. I have known of it I think for around 2 years, after some places in the U.S. were closed due to having contaminated poultry. The ironic thing about this is that most flus come from birds...so why they had to choose this name for the particular strain was wrong and even the Spanish Flu seems that it evolved from birds first to humans. However, people are watching it and those suspected of possibly having it are taken to the hospital right away. There is worry of the outbreak of West Nile Virus, which is also being worked on, and this also mainly affects birds, even though humans get it from mosquitoes that bit infected birds.

It is a deadly flu that mostly seems to come from poultry that is infected and it passes onto humans, so those workers now tend to receive flu shots in attempts to ward off the influenza, but I don't think there's a vaccine. I am not sure, since it was caught pretty early, if it actually will develop into something serious or not, but the attention seems to be there to wholeheartedly try to prevent it. I will hope not, as something like the Spanish Flu would be awful to witness first hand. Avian flus of any kind seem to be pretty nasty and affect the world. This one may evolve further but may not. No one is sure.

 

I didn't think Avian Flu had got to America yet =/. It has definitely spread into Europe and they even found a dead swan with Avian Flu as far as Scotland.

While we are talking about diseases, the recent Foot and Mouth outbreaks coupled with the UK's first EVER case of Blue Tounge disease has re-crippled the meat industry =//

 

Bird flu been around a lot longer than that. Majority of death via bird flu only happens in asia and in asia and Nigeria.

The bird flu did not hit America at all but it is possible that America may be safe from the pandemic (unless someone decided to send contaminated poultry via plane)

And there is NO vaccine for the highest strain (H5N1) which is the most dangerous strain out of the lot. The reason of that is because the strain may exist in the world but it not yet mutated to the point where it can pass on to human to human. Therefore the Strain must mutate into a form of a common cold. Once that happens they can create a vaccine which that takes six to eight months to create.

Fuzzy Sweater: Now that being silly, not only blood spreads and contaminate a small area but it a waste of resources and time.

 

There are versions of the Bird Flu that hit America. They were not the H5N1 strain I take it but they were definitely of the A influenza virus strain which is where H5N1 comes from and also called 'Bird Flus' or 'Avian Influenzas'.

This particular one or any of the A influenza virus strain are pretty nasty. They really seem up in arms about it lately. I went and checked things because I was possibly mixing things up. This is why again, I have said they should not have called this the 'Bird Flu' and actually given it some kind of name. There are quite a few 'Bird Flus'.

Also, the only thing so far to use as any protection is a regular flu shot, which probably won't do much but you never know. It's better to have it than not.

So Whelpsystem is right that there is no vaccine as of this time. Guess some people better get off their duffs.

 

Maybe the end of us all ?

Short but sweet. Something like this maybe the end of all for us someday ?
We need to pay alot more attention to this kind of stuff,and be better prepared to deal with it.


newman

 

Alot of us aren't. We americans tend to worry about things when thy're on our doorstep, instead of taking precautions BEFORE it happens.

 

Bird flu is not the end all humanity. I mean Bird flu is pathetic compared to Ebola.

 

Bird Flu is bad, but note the Spanish Flu which was wretched, though it put a dent in population, didn't take it all out. We also know how to develop vaccines easier now and they had no such thing back then to help them. We just have to do our things to deal with it.

One thing to start doing in case it did happen is start storing up on canned goods so that if it does crossover to humans being contagious, you don't have to go out so much to avoid it. It seems that people do need to study it more but in a way, there's nothing they can really do until it does fully cross over to humans, so those of us who aren't capable of doing anything, we just store up on foods, vitamins, ibuprofen, paper masks and stuff, and wait. If it's done early, you won't have to deal with the people that panic later if indeed it doesn't die down.

 

The problem is we may never have a vaccine. That would be the same as finding a cure for the common cold. The virus mutates to much and too fast to develop an effective vaccine.

 

A computer simulated model suggested that with out anti-viral medicine, in 88 days the whole country would be overrun by deases. However, with anti-virals vice-versa occurs. Don't get to happy, aslong as we have a steady supply of anti-viral to give, as they don't give longlasting defense against viruses. (A person appears in the US every 11 secsonds, we won't have enough..)

 

No government would even attempt to protect every inhabitant. They would concentrate on protecting workers in key businesses, law enforcement, themselves (debatable) and would work from there.

There would be no possible way to get enough for everyone and then distribute it.

If a pandemic happens (however unlikely) a lot of people will die, that is the bottom line.

 

Yes, I have to agree. If a pandemic happened, the first people they are going to take care of is themselves, law enforcement so there aren't crazed riots (which probably there would be if it got that bad regardless) and corps etc. I'm not going to say they won't try to get other people the vaccine, but we are at the bottom of the totem pole really.

This is why I said it's best to prepare early if you are worried about it and just start stocking up on things you'd need if it broke out. Also, some study in flus doesn't hurt. If a pandemic hits a lot of people are going to be stuck without much to do and it's important to not get caught in the rush really that would happen. Someone mentioned above, we tend to always wait till the last minute for these things to hit, and I don't think that's the best recourse. Right now though, unfortunately, they can't make a real vaccine for it until it is passable amongst humans so they are kind of stuck, as I am led to comprehend any way.

There's no real way to tell how bad this strain is going to be as far as statistics go even though it is doing a lot to the birds right now and the humans that have caught it from being exposed to the birds that had it. With the way people can be cramped up in cities nowadays, 88 days seems reasonable for those, which sucks because that's just under 3 months. If it's as bad as some people are saying, I guess all those people who think the world is overpopulated will not be able to say it after this. It reminds me of the book "The Stand" by Stephen King. Just we happen to know ahead of time it could be coming.