Just on CNN- 50% death rate from bird flu

[Quakerfriend]

...followed by Bird flu: Just a breath away...to air later tonight

This followed by 9/11 show by Paula Zahn.

THESE FOLKS AT CNN MUST STOP SHILLING FOR *!! I've had it with this BS.

[WindRavenX]

1. There has only been around 100 deaths

Please do NOT PANIC-- the sample size is TOO SMALL to know the real mortality rate of this virus.

PLEASE DO NOT PANIC.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Well unless you plan on going to work in a Vietnamese

chicken coop, I really wouldn't be too concerned. It has not made the leap to transmitting from human to human and there really is no scientific basis to claim that it will soon.

[Quakerfriend]

3. Oh, I'm not going to panic. Just ready to implode over the

attempts by CNN to shill for this adminstration!

I worked doing medical research for many years so I do understand bird flu.

[Me.]

4. More Terra?

These people never stop

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. If It Bleeds, It Leads.

It's the same philosophy, on a larger scale, as the breathless promos for the local evening news: "What's in YOUR home that could be endangering the lives of YOUR CHILDREN? News at 11!" People are more likely to watch the show if it's scary.

[stray cat]

6. The reported death rate is 50% of those known to be infected

Definitely not bull shit and may be irrespective of age. However, your chances of being infected with it in the US in the next month is extremely remote. It does have worrying characteristics that make it more likely to eventually spread human to human but so far so good.

[Deja Q]

7. Ooooh, the boogeyman striketh again!

Fuck the bird flu. The Asian flu of the early 1980s was no different.

Just a scare.

[bahrbearian]

12. "Here I am to save the day, Super Chimpy's on his Way"

[Dunvegan]

8. Sounds like hype for Rumsfeld's company, Gilead, and their Tamiflu...

...as if they are getting ready to spend an even larger and more significant part of the GNP on Rumsfeld's company's non-solution in stockpile numbers.

Edited for link to Gilead: http://www.gilead.com/wt/sec/tamiflu
And link to Gilead press release: Donald H. Rumsfeld Named Chairman of Gilead Sciences

Should have called the company "GildedDead."

[jsamuel]

9. And the Republican Congress/Bush are stopping the Bird Flu prevention bill

[name not needed]

10. Yeah, that 50% death rate is a bitch

And that's in the most advanced health care systems in the world, like Vietnam, Camboda, and rural China.

[stray cat]

11. Definitely not like some of our rural and inner city areas.

Real good quality health there. However, your point is well taken. Its unclear what the mortality rate per infection will really turn out to be especially if it eventually spreads person to person. Although I don't have any desire to be a test case to see how effective my immune response is and how effective the US medical care ends up being.