H5N What?
Back in April, I asked my Human Anatomy and Physiology class (mostly nursing students) how many had read about the H5N1 bird flu pandemic potential. Not a single one of them had heard of it. It was a big story six months ago. It has gotten bigger. And yet, we blow it off as if it were a Michael Crighton storyline. It isn't.
Salon.com News | "The main bioterrorist is nature herself." A Dutch expert on viruses warns that bird flu is a huge threat to humankind and urges scientists to cooperate in tracking it."
Flu pandemic looms, experts warn world | Many millions will die if Southeast Asian bird virus mutates to lethal form, spreads.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bird flu virus 'close to pandemic'
"Bird flu virus 'close to pandemic' Expert warns estimate of 7.5m global deaths is optimistic "
Channelnewsasia.com | "A human flu pandemic could cause 20 percent of the world's population to become ill," said Ron Fouchier, Thijs Kuiken, Guus Rimmelzwaan and Albert Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, quoting figures from a 2004 study. Within a few months, close to 30 million people would need to be hospitalised, a quarter of whom would die. Although these figures are speculative, they are among the more optimistic predictions of how the next flu pandemic might unfold."
What are your state and national health care officials doing in preparation for the possibility?
Comments
hi fred,
you do keep bringing this up and i haven't been ignoring you. howsomever, i do raise historic chickens as a source of hormone-free, gene-unaltered, antibiotic-fed organic meat for my family and friends and am a bit sensitive to the hysteria that already surrounds the keeping of chickens and West Nile Virus (chickens are sentinels that let us know it is in the neighborhood, they don't spread the disease). Bird flu, IMHO, is another of those natural population controlling mechanisms that lets humans know when we are living too close together and aren't cleaning up after ourselves as well as we might (like cholera and bubonic plague!). I have been reading up on it quite a bit in preparation for when that mass hysteria hits here like it did for West Nile. We had a wonderful discussion about Bird Flu and the keeping of chickens a few months back on the NC Planners' Mailing list. Some good links were shared at that time to help educate all of us. Go here to
the website for The Center for Disease Control where it explains the types of Avian Flu to which domestic fowl are susceptible and how it may be transmitted to humans:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/spread.htm
Bottom line, it seems that poultry kept in confined, airless places or allowed to walk in & consume their own and other birds' droppings are the most susceptible. Applying this knowlege and some common sense tells us that small, free-range flocks are less susceptible to bird flu and a host of other ailments than your average product of the US poultry industry. Me, I can't wait for bird flu to strike the US poultry industry and the end result is (after the ensuing years of wailing and gnashing of teeth), people start raising their own food again. A chicken in every pot, a free-range flock on every residential suburban street!! See? You uncovered my uncharitable "hot button!" More discourse on the subject is certainly welcome and I promise not to take anything you say against chickens personally --at least on the surface!
Posted by: susannah eanes | May 27, 2005 11:03 AM
good lawd. i just re-read my post and meant to say NON-antibiotic fed chickens. whew.
Posted by: susannah eanes | May 27, 2005 11:12 AM
I believe that one of the major points that Fred is trying to make is that we can't trust the government to be truthful about this. They have their collectives heads in the sand.
Providing a link the the official government web site doesn't exactly refute his point.
Posted by: Chris | May 27, 2005 1:42 PM
point taken. and i certainly meant no disrespect. i just wonder --what should we be doing, after all? are we better off now than we were four years ago, before we had a homeland security officer in every hometown? does government watch-dogging make us safer, or just more scared? if my naivete is now what's showing, then please educate me.
Posted by: susannaheanes | May 27, 2005 8:05 PM
Hi Fred,
I discovered your blog recently through the "I Am From" poem template. Here in NZ our govt. is stockpiling anti-viral drugs because we don't have a vaccine for this new strain. The anti-virals will ameliorate some of the symptoms if taken in time. So we are aware of the potential for a pandemic - but are waiting on the vaccine development.
Posted by: Catez | May 28, 2005 4:31 PM
Actually I think were you live probably determines how informed you might be about H5N1.
If your source of news is MSM newspapers or network news then you won't hear/read much more than a Chicken Little scenario(pardon the pun).
However in the SF bay Area, a major Asian port/gateway we are better informed. Without even thinking about it I can recall several major developments that have been in our local news in the last 30 days.
Stanford for example has a major study and vaccine program underway. The University of Rochester has a vaccine clinical trial in progress. Chiron, in Emeryville has been awarded a contract to produce vaccine (as has to Aventis Pasteur of PA,) and our county officials have plans in place and drilled in the event of an outbreak.
What about VA? Does Floyd Cty have a containment plan in place?
Just as with terrorism, some areas of the country are more vulnerable and must be more pro-active, that includes informing the public. Any city/county with a passenger airport should be planning for containment in the least.
It would also be helpful if drug companies who are best equipped to develop and produce vaccines quickly had tort protection in circumstances such as this. Congress owes too much to the legal lobby to enact tort reform. They would rather chance millions dying than give up campaign contributions.
You well know that the lack of production and low stocks of vaccine in the US is not because of poor planning or lack of interest, but due to legal liability.
However, like most people, I want the right to sue when I feel I've been damaged. Would I sign a waiver in order to recieve a H5N1 vaccine? I'm not sure, would you?
Just as in the WOT, we want 100% protection without any inconvenience or dilution of our rights, we are our own worse enemy in this regard.
We wring our hands, but NIMBY is the rule.
Posted by: BJ | May 29, 2005 2:54 PM