U.S. Army Photo: Victims of 1918 Spanish Flu Which Killed Millions
Posted on 12/14/2004 11:15:37 AM PST by ex-Texan
World Health Organization: Bird Flu Pandemic Coming and Millions May Die !
U.S. Army Photo: Victims of 1918 Spanish Flu Which Killed Millions
WHO Urges Countries to Prepare Against Flu Pandemic Threat
MANILA : With up to 50 million people expected to die from the next influenza pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to convene a meeting of international experts in Geneva next week to plan how best to meet the threat, it said in a statement Thursday.
Although it cannot predict when the next pandemic will strike, the WHO said the arrival of the avian influenza or "bird flu" virus, which is now widely entrenched in Asia, signals "the world has moved closer to the next pandemic."
* * *
Estimates of the number of people expected to die from the next pandemic vary from two million to 50 million with between 20 percent and 50 percent of the world's population ultimately affected, the WHO said.
Hit the excerpt link to go directly to Flu Pandemic Report
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
Bird Flu Crossover Danger Escalates: Death Rate 73%
George Bush obviously isn't providing enough bird flu shots...
Also cannot predict the next ice age, an asteroid hit, if global warming will occur, and the end of the NHL lockout.
This should help with the Social Security demographics.
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
The end of the NHL lockout will be the last to occur. That much is certain.
Does one of those reports discuss the reason that all types of influenza outbreaks originate in China?
Something to do with their odd agricultural practices?
If I get the bird flu does that mean my wee-wee will sneeze?
bump
WHO who?
Does this bird flu news get posted 3 times every two weeks?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1290122/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1289487/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1289487/posts
Along with another dozen or so since September...
Great. Just great. Just when I saved up enough money to buy a helmet to prevent the sky from falling on my head along comes a disease to kill us all.
Um... What was that disease called again? Ebola? Mad cow? OOps, no. It's the BIRD FLU.
Doooooooomed......
APf
I wonder when this movie will come out.
Warning as bird flu crossover danger escalates
The poultry farms of Asia are the breeding ground for the avian influenza virus, which is likely to spread across species - and to the West
* * *
Sunday December 12, 2004
The Observer
Wanphen Sripirom has struggled for years to scrape a living as a subsistence farmer in Phichit province, north of Bangkok. Chickens have provided her with a lifeline that has been crucial for survival.
But last week Wanphen had to face a heart-breaking prospect: the slaughter of her brood. 'They're going to be killed tonight,' she said. It was a bitter blow, although the farmer is not alone in the privations she faces. Thousands of others across Asia have already had their livelihoods devastated because their poultry has become infected by H5N1, the bird flu virus. Tens of thousands of ducks and chickens have been infected and tens of millions have been culled this year in a bid to stop the disease spreading. Economists believe this price tag for China alone has been £31 billion. The figure for the whole of South-East Asia is double that.
Health officials are unrepentant, however, for they are desperate to stop the disease spreading - not just to other poultry but to humans. The farms of South-East Asia, where humans and animals live beside each other in tiny yards and huts, have become a vast reservoir for the H5N1 virus, and that chills not just local officials but the world's health authorities.
The planet, they believe, is poised on the brink of a new flu pandemic whose source will be the infected farm birds of Thailand, Vietnam and China.
Already 44 confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection have been documented in Thailand and Vietnam (the only countries to report human cases). Of these, 32 have died, a fatality rate of 73 per cent. No wonder the World Health Organisation and other international medical groups have become fixated about South-East Asian agriculture.
'No man is an island,' said John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary Westfield school of medicine, London. 'It doesn't matter where it starts - it will be on our doorstep within 12 hours. You can't argue that it isn't our problem.'
* * *
'We are talking at least seven million (deaths), but maybe more - 10 million, 20 million and the worst case 100 million,' he said. And Shigeru was backed by Henk Bekedam, the Beijing WHO representative. 'This is a very real threat,' Bekedam told The Observer .
This is real people. Not a wierd news post or tin foil stuff. Unless you really believe that China, Russia or N. Koreans might bio-engineer a disease to solve population problems and then raise havoc over here. 'Nuff said.
That's an astounding mortality rate. Fortunately, that's still a relatively small sample, and unsustainable on a global basis.
Example: From the "Flu Hunters" I learned that farmers in Asia are really into cock fighting. Everybody in the countryside raises fighting bids. Researchers discovered that the primary way people get infected with bird flu is by following local custom. Local custom dictates that the owner of fighting birds personally cleans the air passage ways out by sucking the beaks of his birds. People in the country are not going to change overnight. Ergo: Guaranteed bird-to-human transmission of flu viruses.
People living far from the major cities travel closer regularly to bring their fighting birds. Why? Because Asians love to gamble.
Asia A is from the Big City. He goes to an open air market. There he contacts Asian Y or decides to have sex with a girl he meets Z. (Asians also are wild about sex) A goes to a hotel and has dinner with a friend B who is leaving for Toronto tomorrow.
Within 12 hours after B is exposed to Bird Flu he is sick in Toronto having landed in Vancouver. In cities V and T he infects 3 others, or a total of 6 people, before he even gets off the plane in T. By the time he even knows he is really sick, he may have infected dozens of others. When B gets to Toronto, he also may have infected pets owned by people he visited. Doggies, kitties, lions, tigers and bears catch bird flu easily. The rest I leave to your imagination.
Have a nice day. Stay safe. As for me, I'm not traveling to Asia in the near future.
From what I've read so far, the bird flu is not yet transmittable between humans. You can only catch it from animals at present.
But when it mutates slightly so that human transmission is possible, all hell could break loose.
Hopefully, that mutation will also make it less deadly, but there's certainly no guarantee of that.
I certainly will get a flu shot for this next year if at all possible. If the CDC and WHO are as concerned about this as they appear to be, they should be working overtime to ensure that the world has an adequate supply of vaccine to prevent the pandemic from occurring.
Uh oh, this is looking real bad. I'd better stock-up on Smith Bros® Cough Drops.
That's an astounding mortality rate. Fortunately, that's still a relatively small sample, and unsustainable on a global basis.
Why? There have been other pandemics with comparable mortality rates on a widescale basis. The Mesoamerican smallpox outbreaks that followed the conquistadors are a notable example.
Well, I guess it's time for another one.
You can view the postings as annoyances or warnings; I'll take the latter.
Essence of murrlap...
Yes. Humans, pigs, ducks and chickens all live under the same roof.
Very practical in some senses, as fuel is expensive and refrigeration nonexistent.
The peasant grows rice, and vegetables, eats the pigs, ducks, chickens and catfish from the pond. The pigs, ducks chickens, etc. get leftovers and human waste (Which is also used to fertilize the rice, and veggies).
This creates a virtual closed loop. the plants capture energy from the sun, which feeds people, people byproducts feed the animals, which are partially recycled through the people, animal wastes end up in the pond which feeds the catfish which feed the people and animals, the pond water and waste products fertilize the fields.
Round and round it goes.
An ideal system for maximizing the number of pathogens that can adapt to more than one host. In effect every player is eating the other players feces, either directly or once or twice removed.
The problem comes when a pig is infected by both an avian flu strain and a porcine flu strain. A pig cell unfortunate to be infected with both ends up with a soup of genetic material from both in its walls. Some mixing and matching of the DNA/RNA happens.
Voila! A new flu strain!
A few of these new strains can infect humans, a few of those are lethal...
It happens every year, like clockwork.
I take this seriously, but I'm retired from nursing, so I don't have many of the same concerns I used to...
Anyone here can laugh if they want to, but I think some of the herbal remedies will help, should H151 go pandemic at some point.
At least, that is the typical excuse from China these days. 'Nuff said.
Warnings? LOL! :^)
How about the recent warning that the coming reversal of the North & South poles will result in serious problems?
Or the giant asteriod warning?
And please don't smoke while using hair spray.
Warnings? Ooookay.
- Here's one for you:
Warning: Living in areas that may be flooded by tidal waves may be hazardous to your health. - Please install coastal seimic recorders to reduce the risk of serious injury or death.
You're strange.
It's okay Flake. - I know. 8^)
Okay, that's it. - I just laughed so hard I was choking!
And Watergate don't bother me...
Even Nick Danger is dead meat now?
I think he's beyond strange. Really strange.
I still have my N-95 masks.
Yeah. Sadly.
The bird flu thing is a huge hazard, imho.
The hostility to Supernatural Christianity is incredible--even by some "Christians."
Hard for me, though, to know how much of it is hostilty to the Christian issues--I think a lot--and how much is to me personally--though the latter is probably largely because of the former???
Anyway--I just hate to roll over and play dead and let the evil forces driving such rebellious mentalities have a field day of writing the rules of discourse.
Thanks for your kind posts.
Basically comes down to secular humanism. Very different from what I believe as a Traditional Catholic.
I find your assessment very accurate from my experience with such characters. Sadly.
Sure appreciate your UNDERSTANDING. It is priceless in such a context of relentless assaults.
Will long remember it, brother.
THANKS TONS AND TONS.
LUB,
Hm.
Many years from now. if you are still positing the same such warnings and apocalyptic gloom, I will still be laughing, and if you consider my opinion "hostility" then you are simply projecting yourself. Hillbilly, indeed.
No, I don't detect a trace of hostility in your comments. We're just imagining it.
What drew you to FR? Most of us don't make fun of the predominant religious tradition in the United States. And why the hateful remark directed at the Jehovah's Witnesses, especially when you have one in the family?
I am very sorry if some sort of despicable experience happened to you connected to religion when you were a small child. Time heals all wounds but yours seems to be festering. It is never too late to seek counseling.
THX.
Much.
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