Avian flu: did you read this?

Yep - we saw how well they organized the relief efforts of Hurricane Katrina. Now we get that same effort put forth for the Avian Flu. Flu shots anyone?

Keep in mind that this flu has yet to cross into humans. But, in all likelihood it will. When is the question.

And, the best defense against this or any other virus remains to wash hands thoroughly and carry around those hand sanitizer packets. They saved me when I was in Louisiana with the Hurricane victims and all of those germs running around.
 
I didn't know we had a crisis besides what the news are trying to sell us. I am sorry, but if an overly populated area like china has only had 65 death within the last three years - I don't really see a threat.

Even if the virus mutates and crosses over to the humans, we are better prepared than we were 1918. We have better hygiene, better nutrition, better medicine - it doesn't always have to be a vaccine to be effective - who knows, maybe plain old aspirin will do the trick.

The media is evil, scaring everybody with nothing just so they can increase their ratings....
x(
 
This is a huge threat. It is not a scare tactic or hoax. We are not better prepared and aspirin and better nutrition won't help this infection. There are no drugs for the avain flu; the drugs that work on influenza A (which work marginally and only when given within 24 hrs of first symptoms) are inactive for avian flu.Better hygiene may help prevent some infection but it won't stem a pandemic. Currently, the avian flu has only been shown to be transmitted from birds to humans and not human to human; this is why there have only been about 70 or so cases in China. The virulence of this flu in humans is much higher than the standard influenza A strains that infect humans seasonally and the fatality rate is staggeringly high. It infects almost every organ system in humans. A mutation in this virus that results in the capability of this virus to be transmitted from human to human would open the gates to the beginning of a deadly pandemic. Since this virus is an RNA virus, the mutation rate is high and the probality that such a mutation will occur is also very high and increases as more infections in birds and humans occur. In addition, if avian flu infects a human already infected with influenza A, a phenomenon known as reassortment occurs ( Flu virus contains 8 genetic segments...if a person is co-infected with avian and influenza A viruses, viruses can be made that are comprised of the various possible reassortments of segments ( for ex, you can get a virus that contains segments 1,2,3 and 4 from avian flu and segments 5,6,7 and 8 from influenza A etc etc) This is known as antigenic shift and has been associated with the genesis of new strains of pandemic flu viruses. This threat is very real and the virus has already been shown to be deadly. It is not something that can be ignored and government needs to work with the scientific community to develop a vaccine or a therapy. Unfortunately, a person is contagious before the first symtoms appear and so quarantine is not likely to be the answer.
 
The WHO has been anticipating this avian flu for years - we talked about it a lot in my microbiology class a few years ago...very scarey that it's finally becoming a real threat and not just a "what if".
 
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