Is it just me, or did the Bird Flu disappear?

[Homer Wells]

Remember the Bird Flu????
Wasn't that long ago when we were told to be afraid, be very afraid, if we saw a dead bird anywhere in our vicinity! People were giving second thoughts to going down to the Colonels for a fried chicken dinner, as well as being terrified of eating a hamburger, lest Mad Cow disease should attack them.

Run for your lives!

The H2N5 virus will get you!!

Perhaps the War in the Middle East is the cure for such things, or perhaps those wonderful folks who gave us this War on Terra decided that that particular scare tactic was wearing thin, and they just found some new way to scare the pants off of the sheeple.
Pavlov would be proud

Ding! Ding!= drool drool!!!


:banghead:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. It's just you

They're still pushing it...

Why just today it was in the news.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1907103

[AndyA]

2. They're gearing up the Bird Flu for November, just in time for the

elections. Gotta make Rummy's investments pay off, dontcha know...

[BuyingThyme]

15. Yes, it's more of a fall/winter virus.

[breakaleg]

3. Actually someone in Indonesia has it now and has run away from

the hospital to be treated at home with prayer and home remdies. His cousin died last week from what they suspect was the same thing, but he wasn't tested. On CNN

[NNN0LHI]

4. Get ready for someone to tell you its a wintertime virus and its not winter

They won't mention its always winter somewhere in the world.

Don

[Avalux]

5. H5N1 is still out there.

I don't recall anyone ever told to be afraid if they saw a dead bird in the vicinity, although I will agree there for awhile the threat was hyped by our government and the media. As I've told people ad nauseum; avian flu might cause a pandemic this year, 5 years from now, 10 years from now. We have no way of knowing but we are due for an outbreak. This particular strain that has had everyone up in arms has not reached the point of human-to-human transmission and may not - we just don't know.

Our government and the media took a very serious health matter and as usual, used it to scare the pants off us. That doesn't mean, however, the threat of a flu pandemic isn't a possibility in the future.

[hedgehog]

7. Which wouldn't be so bad if at the same time they had made

some effective plans for addressing the situation when it arises. Yelling "Booga-Booga, the flu is gonna get you and you'll be on your own when it does and we might activate the National Guard to quaratine you sickos" is not good planning.

Who in their right mind thinks that an effective way to respond to an airborne disease is to gather people from all over, put them in tight quarters and then have them wander around town? I can't think of a better way to amplify a flu epidemic than to activate the National Guard!

[Avalux]

10. Bottom line -

if a pandemic as has been described happens, there is absolutely NO WAY our federal, state and local governments will be able to deal with it. They will be completely overwhelmed. We will all be on our own, and self-quarantine is the best bet for survivial - staying home with enough supplies to last for several months at least. Can't imagine the NG trying to implement a quarantine.

[slackmaster]

6. It's still considered the #1 threat by Dept. of Homeland Security

http://www.pandemicflu.gov

[warrens]

8. It has not been as transmissable as at first feared

It's still a threat, but basically the people who come down with it live with chickens. And the limited transmission has all been within households, so they may have got it from the birds too. But don't think it's a hoax; if it does jump species easily, it could be very dangerous, particularly in the third world.

[deaniac21]

9. It isn't flu season.

[Jeanette in FL]

11. and imagine if those birds get ahold of some gatorade

and hair gel, we will be totally screwed.

[mcscajun]

12. Nope, it didn't disappear at all. It's just not the drum the BushCo

band is beating on this month.

"Terra! Terra! Terra!" is the marching tune for August.

Just google "bird flu" or "avian flu" in the Google News section, and you'll see stories from most of the major press around the world, including the US.

[Jazzgirl]

13. No...its no the flavor of the month.

Wait until November when the pukes numbers are really in the toilet.

[mike_c]

14. it's still out there, although the epizootic seems to be slowing...

...probably due to the huge impact it has already had on domestic poultry in Asia. It's still killing people at a dreadfully high mortality rate-- but thankfully it has not recombined or mutated to produce a pandemic strain. Whether or not that might happen is still an open question-- and of course if it's not this particular H5N1 avian flu that does it, another influenza will sooner or later. The absolute BEST outcome from the avian flu crisis would be better awareness and preparedness throughout the world BEFORE the next major pandemic emerges. It WILL happen.

[kenny blankenship]

16. I've never mentioned this before, but someone I know

at CDC said to me basically, not to worry about it. It's grotesquely overblown. I didn't get into depth with this person, but their attitude towards Bird Flu was very dismissive. This person has a substantial history working around the world for CDC in epidemilo-epidemiol- in epidee- ohfuckit, in contagious disease studies. I imagine (but didn't ask) that this dismissive attitude probably is in tune with the consensus opinion of those who, like the person I spoke with, actually do the studies and work in the field. I'm not going to add anything to this.

[achtung_circus]

17. Today's news, from an animal health service to which I subscribe

China confirms 14th bird flu fatality
14.aug.06
Agence France Presse
BEIJING - The health ministry was cited as confirming Monday that China's 14th human fatality from bird flu, a 62-year-old man who died last month.
The patient, a farmer identified only by his surname Li, was from Jimsar county in the northwest region of Xinjiang, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Roy Wadia, a Beijing-based spokesman for the World Health Organization, was quoted as saying, "There was no confirmed link to poultry but that doesn't mean there wasn't any contact. Most of the cases on the Chinese mainland have not had any confirmed link to poultry."



top

Indonesian teenager stays home despite bird flu
14.aug.06
Reuters
JAKARTA - Health officials were cited as saying on Monday that an Indonesian teenager who tested positive for bird flu has refused to be hospitalised, insisting he has a common flu and not avian influenza.
Health authorities have been trying to persuade the 17-year-old farmer from a remote village in West Java to undergo treatment at a hospital in Bandung, but the youth has resisted, they said.



top

Cambodia-Bird
12.aug.06
Associated Press / Kyodo
PHNOM PENH -- A Cambodian agriculture official confirmed Saturday that 1,400 ducks that died on a farm near the border with Vietnam were infected with the often deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Yuos Mony, chief of the agricultural office in Prey Veng Province in eastern Cambodia, said the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh determined Friday the ducks, which died earlier in the week, succumbed to H5N1 avian influenza.
All the ducks were being kept on a farm about 10 kilometers from the border with Vietnam in Prey Veng Province.
So far, there have been no reports of any human infections from the outbreak.



top

India declares itself bird-flu free
12.aug.06
Agence France Press
DNA India
Diligence Media
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1046903
NEW DELHI -- The Indian health ministry was cited as saying in a statement Saturday it was free of bird flu, six months after the country first reported an outbreak of the deadly virus, adding, "India has declared that it has regained its status as an avian influenza-free country. There has been no further outbreak of avian influenza in India after 18 April."

[MercutioATC]

18. Wait a few months. This is the slow season for avian flu.

We'll see more cases in the fall.

The Indy 500 is in May each year. Not hearing about it in August soesn't mean it's not coming back next May...

[MzNov]

19. SnowJob just announced they found the Bird Flu in U.S.

Actually, I was expecting the "news" in Sept. or October, closer to the elections. But the NeoCons are getting more and more desparate every day and we should be more and more worried about what they are going to pull. Personally, I think a new "attack" is going to happen and it will be to CA.

[LeftHander]

20. Swine Flu, West Nile, Hunta, Ebola, Flesh Eating Bacteria...

Tell you what...HIV/AIDS is still here....for real...