Not a matter of if, just when.

[Stiv]

Ok so I'm a bored fear monger, storms and what's next??.

Concerns Increase Over Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

Flu Season
(ROD SANFORD/Lansing State Journal)

Washington, DC - Health officials say there's no doubt an avian flu pandemic will hit the United States at some point.

But they don't know when, and they're having a hard time making a vaccine to deal with it.

Flu strains change all the time, so any vaccine being made right now might not work.

One expert says that could put hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives at risk.

With no way to speed up the process, another expert says the government should at least begin a program to quickly vaccinate everyone.

Screening air passengers as they arrive at British airports is unlikely to prevent importation of either SARS or influenza, researchers in London report.


The research, published online by the British Medical Journal, suggests in case of a new SARS or influenza epidemic, air travel would represent the principal route of international spread.

Although airport entry screening has been advocated, its benefit is currently unknown.

Using the incubation periods for influenza and SARS, researchers at Britain's Health Protection Agency estimated the proportion of passengers with latent infection who would develop symptoms during any flight to England.

For SARS, they found the incubation period was too long to allow more than a small proportion of infected individuals to develop symptoms during a flight. Although influenza has a much shorter incubation period than SARS, the average predicted proportion of people infected with influenza and progressing during any flight was less than 10 percent.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International

Indonesia needs to step up fight against bird flu to avoid pandemic, UN says(AP)

23 September 2005

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia should immediately slaughter poultry in areas affected by bird flu and delegate more funds to fight the virus to stop it developing into a human pandemic, the United Nations said on Friday.


Four people have been killed by bird flu in Indonesia since July, and two other recent fatalities are being investigated. Tests have confirmed that a five year-old girl who died earlier this week did not have the virus as was originally feared, the health minister said.

A further 22 people showing symptoms of the disease are also under observation in hospitals around the country, according to the health ministry. Seventeen of them are in Jakarta’s infectious disease hospital, but the health of all of the patients is improving, said Dr Ilham Batu.

“In view of the worrying situation, it is necessary for the government to improve its virus control policies and strategies,” Joseph Domenech, the head vet for the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said in a statement.

The government - accused of responding slowly to the outbreak - has in recent days stepped up efforts to curtail its spread. It fired the country’s chief of animal health control, said it planned to cull chickens in infected areas, and threatened to forcefully hospitalize anyone showing symptoms of the disease.

Teams of scientists from the United States and Japan are helping the government investigate the current outbreak, said Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab.

“We have the highest confidence in the ability and energy of the government of Indonesia to work on this problem,” US Ambassador to Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe told reporters after meeting with Shihab.

The FAO said that Indonesian officials “should immediately carry out control measures such as culling and targeted vaccination in high-risk areas” and “that more financial resources should be made available for the control of bird flu in animals to prevent a human pandemic.”

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of Asia since 2003, killing at least 63 people and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds.

Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds. But the World Health Organization has warned that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans - possibly triggering a global pandemic that could kill millions.

Several of the patients under observation complained of flu like symptoms after visiting Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta that was closed earlier this week when eagles, peacocks and other birds were found to have the virus.

Dr. Ilham Batu said hundreds of people had turned up at the infectious diseases hospital because they believed that anyone who had recently visited the zoo should have a check up.

“Please do not come if you don’t have any symptoms,” he told el-Shinta radio.

The latest outbreak in Indonesia has alarmed the region.

On Friday, Australia announced it would fund 10,000 courses of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu for Indonesia to help Jakarta fight the illness.

“This assistance for emergency supplies of the drug follows a request from the Indonesian government and is part of our ongoing work to combat Avian Influenza in the Asia Pacific,” said Bruce Billson, the government’s parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs. “The World Healty, according to the health ministry. Seventeen of them are in Jakarta’s infectious disease hospital, but the health of all of the patients is improving, said Dr Ilham Batu.

“In view of the worrying situation, it is necessary for the government to improve its virus control policies and strategies,” Joseph Domenech, the head vet for the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said in a statement.

The government - accused of responding slowly to the outbreak - has in recent days stepped up efforts to curtail its spread. It fired the country’s chief of animal health control, said it planned to cull chickens in infected areas, and threatened to forcefully hospitalize anyone showing symptoms of the disease.

Teams of scientists from the United States and Japan are helping the government investigate the current outbreak, said Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab.

“We have the highest confidence in the ability and energy of the government of Indonesia to work on this problem,” US Ambassador to Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe told reporters after meeting with Shihab.

The FAO said that Indonesian officials “should immediately carry out control measures such as culling and targeted vaccination in high-risk areas” and “that more financial resources should be made available for the control of bird flu in animals to prevent a human pandemic.”

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of Asia since 2003, killing at least 63 people and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds.

Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds. But the World Health Organization has warned that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans - possibly triggering a global pandemic that could kill millions.

Several of the patients under observation complained of flu like symptoms after visiting Ragunan Zoo in Jand those who have been in close contact with them, including medical personnel.”

And one last bit.

CDC Says Get in Line for Flu Shots Now

Health officials want to avoid the long lines and frustration that came with last year`s flu vaccine shortage. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says adults at high-risk for the flu should get a shot now.
At least 200,000 vaccinations will go to people stranded in evacuation centers thanks to Hurricane Katrina. The first priority for the 2005-2006 flu shot supply goes to people living in tight quarters. That includes people living in nursing homes.

"I don`t want to really have the flu," says Naomi Childers while trying her luck at a hand of UNO. She`s a resident at Ravenwood Assisted Living in Springfield. She`s not taking any chances with her health. "I had it once quite some time ago, but I don`t want it again."

Childers and her 23-neighbors will get flu shots.

"Don`t want to pass anything along," she says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants high-risk adults like Naomi to get ahead of the flu season. It says the following groups of people should get vaccinated in the next four weeks:

Adults 65-and-older

People with chronic health problems

Women who are pregnant or will be pregnant during flu season

Children 6-23 months old

Anyone in close contact with the sick or people in nursing homes.

The Springfield Flu Coalition says it plans to use a voucher system for the first time this year to administer flu shots to those at-risk patients. The system allows high-risk adults to reserve a flu shot and pencil a clinic date into their planners.

The C-D-C says healthy adults should hold of until October 24. In the meantime, health professionals recommend those people do as their mothers taught them to ward off illness.

"Take 15-seconds and wash your hands," says Janice McCauley, COX Manager of Senior Advantage. "After contact with people. Certainly after visiting with people who may be ill. Before you eat."

You should also wash up after a round of UNO. Naomi Childers remembers a time before flu vaccines. In life, you play the hand you`re dealt. Naomi Childers says sometimes you should take advantage of a wild card. Get a flu shot.

"They very well get it! And the ones that can`t pay for it, they do have places you can go to get your flu shot."

[Apophis]

Eh, there was the Spanish Flu/Flu of 1918, Typhoid, Diptheria, Tuberculosis, the Plague, and the like, so, I'm not going to be too surprised that, eventually, another pandemic will hit humanity and kill a great deal of people. It's bound to happen, as said, sooner or later.

[Mikethehack]

Maximatosis, but for humans....(save yourselves,flee for your lives!!!)

[Stiv]

Yep but I think what is really flipping the medicos out is the fact that the 70's swine flu never panned out and that we're rolling pretty close to almost 100 years overdue.

Regards,
Stiv

[RYP]

Stiv...we are all gonna die...so sit back, open a Corona and enjoy the trip...

[Stiv]

I hear ya boss, I just HATE getting sick, though it will keep me in plenty of work when this puppy breaks.

Best,
Stiv

[Ultra Swain]

Healthcare and the Funeral biz are two of the few recession-proof industries. Your stock is on the rise sir.

[kilroy]

pfft. whatever. the cosmic acid cloud will dissolve us before we catch the new avian flu. either that or will turn us all into the fantastic 4'ish superbeings who can't get sick.

[Lunatock]

Yeah so there might be a pandemic of Avian Flu that can, and will kill scores of humans..."the acid cloud from space" will get rid of it.

[Pam]

Make sure to wash your hands, take echinecea and vitamin C, drink plenty of fluids and gets lots of rest.

Now this does not mean the fluids have to be water nor does it mean you have to go to bed alone before you get your rest. ;-)

[coldharvest]

take echinecea

Why?

[Pam]

I have heard Echinecea is helps boost your immune system.

[goat balls]

I have heard Echinecea is helps boost your immune system.

Doesn't do squat to help. It's a myth.

If you feel a cold or flu coming on, drink a fifth of Jack Daniels. The high level of alcohol in your blood does all kinds of wonderful things.

My best friend is 6'9" and 345. He can drink a fifth and still be legal to drive. So he always drives. And he never catches a cold either.

[Pam]

Doesn't do squat to help. It's a myth.

Good to know but I think I will stay away from the fifth of Jack Daniels as well.

[Land Rover]

BBC is reporting Monday morning that 5 people now dead from bird flu in Indonesia.