Discussion
But tigers are already in effective quarantine in zoos around the world. Therefore they cannot infect the general population because there is no risk to the public of them walking around a corner and happening upon a sick tiger. Birds can crap on us from high, literally and figureitavly.
I don't like Ross. Never did, don't know why.
I don't like Ross. Never did, don't know why.
not dangerous yet. HOwever if the viryus lives in humans long enough (And there are 'cluster cases' where there are carriers in asia where this is happening, then the virus can become one that instead of being bird-> humna trasition (difficult) can become human-> human transition. As it's a bird virus we would ahve very limited immunity against it - and as happened in 1918 you could see a worldwide pandemic that kills 50 million plus. It did in 1918 - more died then than in the first world war all sides put together...
Given the modern transport infrastructure the virus could spread far more quickly than in 1918 too so could be a real serious situation.
Given that we've had 3 pandemics this century (1918, 1940 something and 1960 something - both later ones smaller than 1918 - then we're due a big one sometime soon . However gien that this virus has been hanging around in asia for at least 6 years infecting small numbers of humans, this one may not be the one to cause the pandemic - but sooner or later it'll come along.
All we can hope is that quarantine processes can be put in place quick enough in a modern country like ours to contain an outbreaks sucessfully.
So if you see a pheasant sneezing - just dont eat it
Given the modern transport infrastructure the virus could spread far more quickly than in 1918 too so could be a real serious situation.
Given that we've had 3 pandemics this century (1918, 1940 something and 1960 something - both later ones smaller than 1918 - then we're due a big one sometime soon . However gien that this virus has been hanging around in asia for at least 6 years infecting small numbers of humans, this one may not be the one to cause the pandemic - but sooner or later it'll come along.
All we can hope is that quarantine processes can be put in place quick enough in a modern country like ours to contain an outbreaks sucessfully.
So if you see a pheasant sneezing - just dont eat it
apache said:
Yes yes but, is it like normal flu? or is it something more sisnister, cos the way i see it is a lot of people might cop for a nasty cold for a week, hardly deadly is it
A lot of folk think a nasty cold is flu. Nasty colds are similar like your cat is similar to a lion.
If we get a proper epidemic it is likely you will know someone who will die.
hugoagogo said:
each year 3-4000 people die from 'normal' flu in the uk
Something I've been pondering......it being the case that all flu virsus mutate continuosly, and that we already have a large number of strains that infect people all of the time anyway...isn't it just as likely, if not more likely, the one of the current human flu strains could mutate into a deadly version that kills rather than maim ( as it were)
Currently, human flu is on the whole, a nasty illness that will make you feel like crap. It can kill the infirm and those with weakened immune systems but most healthy people will be fine after a week in bed sipping lemsip and feeling very poorly.
For it to mutate into a highly pathogenic strain it would have to be a major mutation that is extreamly unlikely to happen overnight.
The current avian flu is already highly pathogenic and it can already infect humans. It hasnt spread worldwide because it is not infectious enough yet. You need to breath in infected material or be in very close contact to a sufferer for a prolonged period of time. For it to become highly contagious and hence pandemic causing, it requires a very small mutation relatively speaking.
Its not going to kill you tomorrow and procedures are in place to protect people and develop vaccines against it. To dismiss it as tabloid scaremongering is pretty foolish though.
For it to mutate into a highly pathogenic strain it would have to be a major mutation that is extreamly unlikely to happen overnight.
The current avian flu is already highly pathogenic and it can already infect humans. It hasnt spread worldwide because it is not infectious enough yet. You need to breath in infected material or be in very close contact to a sufferer for a prolonged period of time. For it to become highly contagious and hence pandemic causing, it requires a very small mutation relatively speaking.
Its not going to kill you tomorrow and procedures are in place to protect people and develop vaccines against it. To dismiss it as tabloid scaremongering is pretty foolish though.
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