Pandemic - Bird Flu..Worried?

[burnt]

Watching a piece on the news last night about the Bird Flu outbreak in China.

Apparently 50 humans in China are now dead from it.

So some very well respected professors (not scare mongers) have stated that this could wipe out 20% of the world population....unfortunately it won't be selective.

History states that this will happen, but is this just another story like the asteroid hitting us, etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4573393.stm

[Size Nine Elm]

You're worried about bird flu? Chicken!

[nick heppinstall]

No point in losing sleep about this kind of stuff IMO. If it's going to happen then it will. Their is nothing we can do about it.

[bruciebabe]

nick heppinstall said:

No point in losing sleep about this kind of stuff IMO. If it's going to happen then it will. Their is nothing we can do about it.

There is plenty we can do about it.
The WHO suggests that we stockpile anti flu drugs. These modern high tech drugs work against all strains of flu because they are enzyme inhibitors that stop the virus multiplying. You take them on first symptoms of Flu and they give your body time to build up it's own immunity. They have been tested against bird flu and work.
There are 2 brands, Relenza and Tamiflu. You cannot buy them over the counter in the UK but you can in many other countries such as Spain. You can also buy them over the interweb. I know many people who now have a supply of these in their fridge (they retain their potency for 4 years, longer if kept cold).

[simpo two]

Flu pandemics can kill millions, like the one after WW1. However, 50 dead Chinese in two years doesn't bother me; it just means there'll be one less DVD player in Tescos

[simpo two]

bruciebabe said:

There is plenty we can do about it.

Blimey, you know all that and run seven cars... you don't own a pharmaceuticals company do you

[Size Nine Elm]

simpo two said:

bruciebabe said: There is plenty we can do about it. Blimey, you know all that and run seven cars... you don't own a pharmaceuticals company do you

No, he made his money in tobacco stocks.

[ICSD]

Whilst, I'm sure, most people on this site drive as well as we are able, some probably better than others, we all love our cars and probably take a few risks now and then in the name of fun. I, personally approach this in the belief that when my numbers up, my numbers up and there's little I can do about that.

You have to look at pandemics, terrorism and other such scary things in the same light, otherwise you just can't get on with your life.

[bruciebabe]

simpo two said:

Flu pandemics can kill millions, like the one after WW1. However, 50 dead Chinese in two years doesn't bother me; it just means there'll be one less DVD player in Tescos

The WHO epidemiologists reckon it is not a case of if, it is a case of when. "It really is inevitable," says Dr Alan Hay, director of the World Influenza Centre in London. "We don't know when it will arrive but we are anticipating it." Remember the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed 50 million people and this is reckoned to be far worse with over 60% of those infected dieing. Also the world has a far bigger population and jet travel makes diseases very mobile.
The current H5N1 strain of bird flu passes from human to human but not very easily which is why we don't have the pandemic yet. When this mutates, and it will, into a more easily transmitted version we will be in big poo.

[burnt]

Oh don't get me wrong...I'm hardly losing sleep over this....my children give me that pleasure

But one statistic was that the last Pandemic, the same amount of people who died in the Tsunami died every day...for 6 months.

They are big numbers.

What would happen to the economy.

[968]

bruciebabe said:

The WHO epidemiologists reckon it is not a case of if, it is a case of when. "It really is inevitable," says Dr Alan Hay, director of the World Influenza Centre in London. "We don't know when it will arrive but we are anticipating it." Remember the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed 50 million people and this is reckoned to be far worse with over 60% of those infected dieing. Also the world has a far bigger population and jet travel makes diseases very mobile. The current H5N1 strain of bird flu passes from human to human but not very easily which is why we don't have the pandemic yet. When this mutates, and it will, into a more easily transmitted version we will be in big poo.

Are these the same experts who predicted an epidemic of BSE? Or the same experts who predicted an epidemic of Autism from MMR?

[simpo two]

968 said:

Are these the same experts who predicted an epidemic of BSE? Or the same experts who predicted an epidemic of Autism from MMR?

And AIDS is hardly major in the global scheme of things.
The world is rather different from 1918. Standards of living are in most cases higher, education is generally better and communications infinitely better. So the likelihood of detection and of steps being taken to confine the outbreak are much greater too. Witness: oly 50 people have died, in a country of billions, on the other side of the world, and already we're discussing it.

People love a panic. Why? Is it to distract them from their boring, over-taxed and over-regulated lives?

[bruciebabe]

968 said:

bruciebabe said: The WHO epidemiologists reckon it is not a case of if, it is a case of when. "It really is inevitable," says Dr Alan Hay, director of the World Influenza Centre in London. "We don't know when it will arrive but we are anticipating it." Remember the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed 50 million people and this is reckoned to be far worse with over 60% of those infected dieing. Also the world has a far bigger population and jet travel makes diseases very mobile. The current H5N1 strain of bird flu passes from human to human but not very easily which is why we don't have the pandemic yet. When this mutates, and it will, into a more easily transmitted version we will be in big poo. Are these the same experts who predicted an epidemic of BSE? Or the same experts who predicted an epidemic of Autism from MMR?

No different ones. And they are all coming out with the same message. Governments worldwide are spending billions stockpiling Relenza and Tamiflu. Not enough for everyone you understand, just key people like police, doctors and er, government workers. In the BSE and MMR scares there was no good science and lots of dissenting voices. With regards to a flu pandemic there is lots and lots of good science and no dissenting voices. Don't take my word for it, get Google out and have a look.

[968]

bruciebabe said:

No different ones. And they are all coming out with the same message. Governments worldwide are spending billions stockpiling Relenza and Tamiflu. Not enough for everyone you understand, just key people like police, doctors and er, government workers. In the BSE and MMR scares there was no good science and lots of dissenting voices. With regards to a flu pandemic there is lots and lots of good science and no dissenting voices. Don't take my word for it, get Google out and have a look.

It's ok, I wont take your word for it, and Relenza and Tamiflu are utter bo**ox. Won't help you at all. It's all a mechanism to engender panic, to get people to prepare for the worst. If there is no incentive for change, then change wont happen.

[bruciebabe]

968 said:

bruciebabe said: No different ones. And they are all coming out with the same message. Governments worldwide are spending billions stockpiling Relenza and Tamiflu. Not enough for everyone you understand, just key people like police, doctors and er, government workers. In the BSE and MMR scares there was no good science and lots of dissenting voices. With regards to a flu pandemic there is lots and lots of good science and no dissenting voices. Don't take my word for it, get Google out and have a look. It's ok, I wont take your word for it, and Relenza and Tamiflu are utter bo**ox. Won't help you at all. It's all a mechanism to engender panic, to get people to prepare for the worst. If there is no incentive for change, then change wont happen.

I thought opthalmics and epidemiologists were different disciplines. Silly me. I should have gone to an epidemiologist to have my eyes LASERed instead of Chad Rostrom.

[968]

bruciebabe said:

[quote=968] I thought opthalmics and epidemiologists were different disciplines. Silly me. I should have gone to an epidemiologist to have my eyes LASERed instead of Chad Rostrom.

For a start it's OPHTHalmics. Secondly, in medical training we have to do a lot of research into Epidemiology and indeed one of my bosses is one of the UK's leading epidemiologists, Mr Richard Wormald, who has written many books on the subject. Oh also it's Rostron.

[bruciebabe]

968 said:

bruciebabe said: [quote=968] I thought opthalmics and epidemiologists were different disciplines. Silly me. I should have gone to an epidemiologist to have my eyes LASERed instead of Chad Rostrom. For a start it's OPHTHalmics. Secondly, in medical training we have to do a lot of research into Epidemiology and indeed one of my bosses is one of the UK's leading epidemiologists, Mr Richard Wormald, who has written many books on the subject. Oh also it's Rostron.

Being a pedant doesn't make you right.

[burnt]

Jeeez is no thread safe anymore from BB getting into an argument!!

[lanciachris]

Do you really believe that there is a real danger? What about the 100s of other supposed illnesses weve been told will wipe us out over the last 30 years? did you get swept up in the hysteria of those too?

[968]

bruciebabe said:

Being a pedant doesn't make you right.

No being pedant might not, but working for one of the leading Public Health Epidemiologists, who is an Ophthalmologist, does.