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La La La, I Can’t Hear You

May 25th, 2006 at 12:53 pm by Susie

“Nothing to worry about with avian flu.” Yeah, right.

Posted in Uncategorized

3 Responses to “La La La, I Can’t Hear You”

on 25 May 2006 at 2:51 pm1Mike

I stand by my contention that the threat is hyped.

The lethality statistics are skewed. The countries that have hosted the virus, and the nature of the virus being hosted by poultry in rural areas, makes the fatality statistics skewed. Only those cases who have sought hospital care get counted. And these are the worst afflicted. Who knows how many people have had the flu and not been counted.

Flu virus’s often mutate from birds, including the pandemic of the early 1900’s. But health care has improved a bit since the early 20th century.

I’m not saying there’s no threat. But I think if you concentrate on not smoking, wearing a seat belt and eating a quality diet you are much more likely to do more to enhance your health and longevity than stocking 300 million doses of Tamiflu that are proving ineffective anyway.
on 25 May 2006 at 3:12 pm2merciless

Mike, what you say makes lots of sense. But the health officials who are tracking the flu have found little or no evidence of unreported cases.

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2006/05/who_cumulative_.html
on 25 May 2006 at 5:12 pm3Mike

I have two thoughts about that particular source.

The first is that I would like to see the survey’s they reference. I can’t believe that surveying for antibodies in a diverse rural population of a poor region is not possibly fraught with error.

Second, assuming the survey’s are accurate … the bird flu has not mutated to the contagious level as of yet. The most recent reports of human to human contact are not unique among people who are in very close/continuous proximity to each other. In other words, this most recent story is not a new development. Thus, it’s not until that final mutation occurs (if it even occurs) that the danger can be accurately assessed.

There are all kinds of killer virus’s incubating all over the world. And sure, a few can and a very few do mutate to represent a significant danger to humans. And of course, medical professional should watch/monitor/prepare. I just think, like so much in the American media, a story like the bird flu becomes the cable news crisis de jour far too easily, fueling an already fear addicted culture.

And being a fear addicted society is not without some very serious consequences …. like Iraq.