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Bird Flu


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I'm not sure how many of you pay attention to the news but on CNN last night they were making a very big deal out of a thing called Bird Flu. Also called avian flu or the H5N1 virus strain, this disease apparently has many top scientists in the medical field missing a few winks of sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Bird Flu is a strain of influenza that is carried by various sorts of birds and foul. A family that was interviewed by the news said their chickens all died one day and they didn't know why. Then a day or two later their daughter became ill. Apparently this particular strain of Bird Flu and maybe others as well can be transmitted to humans from birds. So why is this all so important?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well first of all....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I'm sure most of you realize, viruses tend to mutate. Some viruses mutate at an almost unbelieveable rate. They say that due to mutation, no two HIV infected patients have the exact same strain of the virus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now then, this particular strain of flu when it infects a human seems to stay contained. So the patients don't infect other people. So whatever it's method of spreading itself is, it isn't very effective. So their big concern is that this particular virus will mutate to be more easily spread, such as becoming an airborn pathogen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may still be wondering why this is important, after all, we have various strains of flu every year. Well apparently of the few people who have become infected in the past few years, over 50% have died. The Spanish Flu that swept the whole world in 1918 killed over 100 million people but it only killed approximately 5% of the people who were infected. So even with our modern methods of treating diseases, it could still kill an unprecedented number of people if it became highly contageous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what do you make of all this? Is this just another scare like Y2K that will make countless people buy generators and horde bottled water, ramen noodles and canned food in their basements? Some scientists say that this bird flu just isn't the threat that it's being hyped as, yet at the same time there are other viruses that could potentially become as much of a threat as bird flu. Thus they don't just think we should prepare for bird flu, but for all viruses and other contageous diseases. To me, this sounds like a very smart idea. They say an ounce of prevention is equal to a pound of cure and in this case could mean saving the lives of millions of people in a worst case scenario.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If there was a major outbreak, what would you do? Perhaps rush to the store with a face mask on and lysol cans blazing, grab all the supplies you could get, buy them and then head home to wait inside until news of a vaccine available in your area?

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Wow.... have you been living under a rock?? Bird flu WAS a major outbreak last year, suspected to have started in China, and sweeped the ENTIRE north-west peninsula of Asia, and many asian countrys(including my own) plus a couple of europe countries or something. Millions died, and the epidemic was only sucumbed after months of investigation and such. Now, it's suspected to start again, and you only realized now?? I'm sorry, but i find that really hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if i seem rather rude..... It's just that SO MANY died, the epidemic is suspected to start again, and my aunt is down with dengue fever......

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Mmm you see you cant just vaccinate the entire world like we did to make smallpox extinct becase the vaccine for avian flu also has a human mortality rate which means that for every 100 or so people immunised someone will catch the actual virus.

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Wow.... have you been living under a rock?? Bird flu WAS a major outbreak last year, suspected to have started in China, and sweeped the ENTIRE north-west peninsula of Asia, and many asian countrys(including my own) plus a couple of europe countries or something. Millions died, and the epidemic was only sucumbed after months of investigation and such. Now, it's suspected to start again, and you only realized now?? I'm sorry, but i find that really hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if i seem rather rude..... It's just that SO MANY died, the epidemic is suspected to start again, and my aunt is down with dengue fever......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O.O sorry, I didn't realize there had been a prior outbreak. On the news they were talking about "if" it mutates to become contageous between humans. They didn't mention there already being a form that is contageous or any prior outbreak. As a matter of fact they were talking about like 60 victims total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are probably 2 reasons why I've never heard of this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. I've only recently started paying attention to the news.

 

 

 

2. News from Asia tends to travel very slowly to the US and never receives large coverage.

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Regardless of whether it has been over-hyped and dramatised or not, there's little we can do about it. You could also get hit by a bus or have a satellite fall onto your house (if you're very lucky). Unless it becomes incredibly dangerous and is affecting surrounding areas (as in, other states within Australia), then I'll start worrying and stocking up. But for now there it's just another one of the potentially fatal risks that we brave every single day.

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Scientists have been working on a (useable vaccine) for a few years now, hopefully something will come of it.

 

 

 

It's funny how it has been a big threat for a few years now, but just as the media decides they want to stir up some fear, people begin to worry about it.

 

 

 

I should be first in line to recieve a vaccine if it comes though (Doctors in the family :D )

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So far, vaccines have proven fatal or useless! But yea, my dad's a health freak, so we'll probably be first in line for it too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and BTW, this is not another sham to scare people to death! This virus can be contracted through just about every means possible, and can last in a place for hours. For example, a person who has avain flu touches an elevator button. A few hours later, another person touches the same button, and he/she will very likely contract the disease too, which was what made the epidemic so deadly. The reason the epidemic didn't reach most european country is because the virus was found out, and action aken, before it got out of asia, but that certainly didn't help the number of people who contracted this disease and died over here.

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Wow.... have you been living under a rock?? Bird flu WAS a major outbreak last year, suspected to have started in China, and sweeped the ENTIRE north-west peninsula of Asia, and many asian countrys(including my own) plus a couple of europe countries or something. Millions died, and the epidemic was only sucumbed after months of investigation and such. Now, it's suspected to start again, and you only realized now?? I'm sorry, but i find that really hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if i seem rather rude..... It's just that SO MANY died, the epidemic is suspected to start again, and my aunt is down with dengue fever......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find that very hard to believe. If there was a major outbreak (millions killed) in Asia then there would be some significant news coverage and distribution of the stockpiled antibodies would commence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I know, the virus currently has no way to travel between humans, and can only be contracted through contact with diseased birds. I'm pretty sure that the virus can travel between birds, and wouldn't be surprised if the "millions killed" you are referring to are infact millions of culled chickens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is also impossible to believe that the flu (had it actually been able to travel between humans, which I shall stress it currently can not) could be contained within the infected countries as you said, unless your government (and many others) decided to quarantine the whole nation (i.e. no travel of humans or birds in or out of your country), in which case I'm sure we would all know about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if a modified bird flu virus capable of travelling between humans had reached China as you implied, you could be damn sure that more than a few million people would die.

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Wow.... have you been living under a rock?? Bird flu WAS a major outbreak last year, suspected to have started in China, and sweeped the ENTIRE north-west peninsula of Asia, and many asian countrys(including my own) plus a couple of europe countries or something. Millions died, and the epidemic was only sucumbed after months of investigation and such. Now, it's suspected to start again, and you only realized now?? I'm sorry, but i find that really hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if i seem rather rude..... It's just that SO MANY died, the epidemic is suspected to start again, and my aunt is down with dengue fever......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find that very hard to believe. If there was a major outbreak (millions killed) in Asia then there would be some significant news coverage and distribution of the stockpiled antibodies would commence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I know, the virus currently has no way to travel between humans, and can only be contracted through contact with diseased birds. I'm pretty sure that the virus can travel between birds, and wouldn't be surprised if the "millions killed" you are referring to are infact millions of culled chickens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is also impossible to believe that the flu (had it actually been able to travel between humans, which I shall stress it currently can not) could be contained within the infected countries as you said, unless your government (and many others) decided to quarantine the whole nation (i.e. no travel of humans or birds in or out of your country), in which case I'm sure we would all know about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if a modified bird flu virus capable of travelling between humans had reached China as you implied, you could be damn sure that more than a few million people would die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, this is NOT supposed to be a flame war, but I'm so mad, so I'll explain this in as little words as possible. I live here and experience what happened. You didn't. The epidemic spread to my classmate's parents. Yours didn't. I watched the news everyday on how daily, here where I live and in other areas (espeacially China whcih was the worst hit area) hundreds die. So don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Oh, and China WAS quarntined, and a few other countries (including mine) but it wasn't fast enough to stop the virus from spreading. I am honestly suprised that so few people in America or wherever you guys may be from know about this.

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I recall something about the Bird Flu from a few years ago or whatever. Don't remember much on it but it was a fairly big issue.

 

 

 

I think SARS over-ruled it though. So whatever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still fairly nasty. I know Australia was fairly paranoid about it the first time. Can't say I blame them really, kind of close :-? :x

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Wow.... have you been living under a rock?? Bird flu WAS a major outbreak last year, suspected to have started in China, and sweeped the ENTIRE north-west peninsula of Asia, and many asian countrys(including my own) plus a couple of europe countries or something. Millions died, and the epidemic was only sucumbed after months of investigation and such. Now, it's suspected to start again, and you only realized now?? I'm sorry, but i find that really hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if i seem rather rude..... It's just that SO MANY died, the epidemic is suspected to start again, and my aunt is down with dengue fever......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find that very hard to believe. If there was a major outbreak (millions killed) in Asia then there would be some significant news coverage and distribution of the stockpiled antibodies would commence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I know, the virus currently has no way to travel between humans, and can only be contracted through contact with diseased birds. I'm pretty sure that the virus can travel between birds, and wouldn't be surprised if the "millions killed" you are referring to are infact millions of culled chickens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is also impossible to believe that the flu (had it actually been able to travel between humans, which I shall stress it currently can not) could be contained within the infected countries as you said, unless your government (and many others) decided to quarantine the whole nation (i.e. no travel of humans or birds in or out of your country), in which case I'm sure we would all know about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if a modified bird flu virus capable of travelling between humans had reached China as you implied, you could be damn sure that more than a few million people would die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, this is NOT supposed to be a flame war, but I'm so mad, so I'll explain this in as little words as possible. I live here and experience what happened. You didn't. The epidemic spread to my classmate's parents. Yours didn't. I watched the news everyday on how daily, here where I live and in other areas (espeacially China whcih was the worst hit area) hundreds die. So don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Oh, and China WAS quarntined, and a few other countries (including mine) but it wasn't fast enough to stop the virus from spreading. I am honestly suprised that so few people in America or wherever you guys may be from know about this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to believe you since you're obviously very passionate about this issue, however I still can not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is primarily because I truely believe that I (and others) would have heard a lot more about this, if what you are saying were true. I don't remember hearing anything about all of China's airports being closed or any such kerfuffle. I'm also pretty sure that top British scientists and doctors wouldn't still be saying "if the bird flu virus is ever able to travel between humans....." - heck, just today one of my lectures said exactly that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People may be dieing in your country, but I cannot believe it is due to the virus which is the subject of this thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am sure that many people have died from coming in contact with infected birds, but not due to the virus travelling between humans.

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From http://www.birdflu.org.cn:

 

 

 

In rural areas, the H5N1 virus is easily spread from farm to farm among domestic poultry through the feces of wild birds. The virus can survive for up to four days at 71 F (22 C) and more than 30 days at 32 F (0 C). If frozen, it can survive indefinitely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far in this outbreak, human cases have been blamed on direct contact with infected chickens and their droppings. People who catch the virus from birds can pass it on to other humans, although the disease is generally milder in those who caught it from an infected person rather than from birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the virus mutates and combines with a human influenza virus, it could be spread through person-to-person transmission in the same way the ordinary human flu virus is spread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Influenza viruses are highly unstable and have the ability to mutate rapidly, potentially jumping from one animal species to another. Scientists fear the bird flu virus could evolve into a form that is easily spread between people, resulting in an extremely contagious and lethal disease. This could happen if someone already infected with the human flu virus catches the bird flu. The two viruses could recombine inside the victimÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s body, producing a hybrid that could readily spread from person to person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you go.

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Eh, I usually watch the news and i've never heard of 'millions and millions dieing'. It sounds like your exaggerating. I read something before and it said only 60 people had died so far from avian flu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 281794.stm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't say i'm a stupid idiot who has no idea whats going on, ive heard about the closed borders and quarantines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If millions of people have died from this, i'm sorry for you.

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yeah, remeber Sars? It was a big overhyped mess which i'm sure is still going on in the same serverity, but the media lost interest in because it stopped getting the rattings it used to. thats why we stopped hearing about. Thats why i hate the media. They only focus on the negative events because they might get a slight ratings boost.

 

 

 

anyway, i'm sure bird flu will end up the same as sars, or turn into something like aids. Either way, i'm too inept to ever believe that it could affect me in any way.

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i should really finish my thoughts before i get side-tracked and forget them, but no ones on right now so it won't effect anyone if i post again so here goes:

 

 

 

As i said, the media sucks. Except for mock media like The Daily Show that just make fun of the real media. Comedy Central is way more in touch with American society than CBS ever will be.

 

 

 

whoa, i'm way off subject. yeah, bird flu....

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The world is already suffering from overpopulation. There's not enough food, clean water or medicines for over 6 billion people and our population is still growing fast. Now the nature is trying to harvest unneeded people. At least I believe it turns out to be a good thing in a long run if this turns out to be a real killer flu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw there has been bird flu in Rumania, so Europe (where I live) isn't safe either.

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The world is already suffering from overpopulation. There's not enough food, clean water or medicines for over 6 billion people and our population is still growing fast. Now the nature is trying to harvest unneeded people. At least I believe it turns out to be a good thing in a long run if this turns out to be a real killer flu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw there has been bird flu in Rumania, so Europe (where I live) isn't safe either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What would you say if I said that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Doctors and scientist are making things worse by trying to save everyone."?

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the weighted companion cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak.

 

In the event that the weighted companion cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice.

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What would you say if I said that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Doctors and scientist are making things worse by trying to save everyone."?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basically true. The biggest problem in world is overpopulation. If there was less people, there'd be enough food and clean water for everyone. If there was 2-3 billion people less in this world, there would be enough food for every single person. The biggest problem is in Africa (and some parts of Asia and South America) where more and more people come to this world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science isn't bad. More medicines make sure that we don't need to suffer here. It's just the thing that we shouldn't keep everyone alive. Basically problem is who should we keep or who not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My "dream" would be a new black plague which killed like 1/3 of world population. This way there would be enough resources to keep everyone alive and healthy. Just make it sure that every family would get only like 2,1-2,5 kids. This wouldn't be an impossible task. Just make taxes somehow to relate (Sorry for my bad English at this part) with the amount of kids. If you have no children, you pay bigger taxes. If you have more than 3 kids, you pay bigger taxes. So easy. Of course 1 "extra" child wouldn't become really expensive for a family, but like 3 "accidental" children would become expensive. Of course some religious groups wouldn't agree with me at this section.

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From the information i have gathered Romainia has had an outbreak of 'bird flu' which basically means the flu is making its way across eastern europe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATM - the flu can only be passed from bird to bird but given the chance to mutate and there is a strong chance that it will. apparently 50% of people that contract 'bird flu' actually die of it. (could be mistaken)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it does mutate and hit the UK i swear im packing my job in getting 100 bottles of water 1000's of tins of beans and staying in my house.

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If there was a major outbreak, what would you do? Perhaps rush to the store with a face mask on and lysol cans blazing, grab all the supplies you could get, buy them and then head home to wait inside until news of a vaccine available in your area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat. Sleep. Play Runescape. Repeat.

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If there was a major outbreak, what would you do? Perhaps rush to the store with a face mask on and lysol cans blazing, grab all the supplies you could get, buy them and then head home to wait inside until news of a vaccine available in your area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat. Sleep. Play Runescape. Repeat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me2 ':P'

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The world isn't overpopulated. There is plenty of food and medicine, it just never reaches the places it's needed the most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We don't need a flu to decrease the world's population. We need everyone to work together to solve the problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol, I'll try to make this short and sweet. Try telling somebody's family member who sied of avian flu that it is trivial and it's fake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People might not doubt you if you provided some evidence. You seem to be assuming that we should know about this, but if the media here doesn't cover it, people don't find out, it's that simple. A massive earthquake could sink all of california, and if the government stopped the news agencies from covering it, nobody on the east cost of the US would know anything was wrong for days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it really happened the way that you say, post some links to news articles or something. Don't just make a claim that people here obviously have never heard anything about and then get mad when everyone is skeptical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone can make up anything on the internet and no one would be know the difference. Most of these people have dealt with all manner of frauds online so you can't expect them to just believe anything that people say on the internet. People were eager to believe that chiquita bananas contained flesh eating bacteria and that people were dieing right and left when a fake email circulated there for a while. Yet that was a total fake.

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