How To Stop Bird Flu

immunize the chickens, but the price has to be right . . .

[lawman]

. . . “You can’t have a $10 vaccine for a $1 chicken”

[medpagetoday.com...]

[Stefan]

Forget about the vaccinations. Primarily, you have to keep them clean. Think about it - ususally they're packed in cheek by jowl (or beak by wattle) in a chicken barn, with no facilities for proper basic hygiene. Give them an opportunity to take a proper shower every couple of days, and give them a little room, and that's half the battle. Also, keep them away from the pigs. You get transgenic jumps of nasty viruses if they're hanging out with the pigs all the time. Actually, that's more the China back-yard scenario, eh? Anyway, barns or backyards, give them some hand sanitizer, regular showers, and clean underwear every day, and you're away to the races.

[vincevincevince]

It's for this reason that in my area vets rarely treat certain types of animal, regardless of what the animal has. Once you've paid for a vet, then for medicine or treatment, and then for the vet to come back to verify the animal is safe for human consumption, you're making a significant loss.

Vets are called just to put the animal down and sign any disease control forms.

[digitalghost]

I just give my chickens NyQuil, the coughing, sneezing, what-the-hell-am-I-doing-sleeping-on-the-kitchen-floor medicine...

[jsinger]

Is Bird Flu over? Was watching some doctor on Oprah last week predicting the end of the world from Bird Flu. Thought about laying in a year supply of food and Tamiflu.

But haven't heard a word about it on the news this past few days. Is it over. Or is the situation getting so terrible the gov't is silencing reports to prevent full out panic?

[Stefan]

Not only is it not over, I read recently that it's somehow combining with Prions (as in BSE). There is now a real risk of having chickens that are not only sick, but also very mad. Conversely, we may be faced with cows that think they can fly.

It's getting nasty out there; personally, I'm stocking up on rum, smokes, dried food, cans of tuna, and aluminum foil (makes great hats).

[iamlost]

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. flu experts are resigned to being overwhelmed by an avian flu pandemic, saying hospitals, schools, businesses and the general public are nowhere near ready to cope.

...

H5N1 avian influenza has swept through flocks across Asia and into Europe, killing or forcing the culling of 200 million birds. It sometimes infects people and has infected 161 documented patients, killing 86 of them.

Last century there were three major influenza pandemics: in 1918 between 20 million and 100 million people (poor records) died; in 1957 about 4-million died; in 1968 approximately 1 million died.

Note: roughly 500,00 people die annually from the 'regular' flu.
Note: H5N1 is closer to the 1918 version than the later ones.
Note: the WHO predicts that at least 2-million and as many as 150 million people might die if H5N1 acquires the ability to transfer between humans.

Talking, sneezing, coughing, or touching something after touching your nose or mouth transfers mucus containing the flu virus. The best protection is washing your hands frequently and avoiding the obviously ill.

I'm stocking up on rum, smokes, dried food, cans of tuna, and aluminum foil

aluminium foil (hat): WARNING 1: substantially increased probability of suffering burns, subcutaneous fluid explosions, blunt trauma from self-inflicted opisthotonic contractions, respiratory distress syndrome, cataracts, pulmonary edema, renal failure, retinal lesions, rhabdomyolysis, and tympanic membrane rupture. [lightning likes aluminium foil]
WARNING 2: substantially increased possibility of suffering heatstroke, insolation, thermic fever, and siriasis. [global warming likes aluminum foil]
WARNING 3: substantially increased potential (approaching unitary) of attracting black helicopters and becoming disappeared. [conspiracy theory likes aluminium foil]

tuna: WARNING: beware mercury intoxication - can transform a mild mannered webmaster into a 'Mad as a Hatter' SEO. (from: 19th century felt hatmakers poisoned by mercury during manufacturing process)

dried foods: who forgot the water?

smokes: "SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING [one of many]: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy."

rum: WARNING 1: direct cause of tall tales about black hats, pirates, and unlikely amourous accomplishments; WARNING 2: direct cause of inanimate objects staggering into one's way while walking to the lavatory for a bit of private nausea and vomiting; WARNING 3: beware the three Greeks Anesthesia, Hyperthermia, and Hypothermia; WARNING 4: you are feeling sleepy, so very sleepy...; WARNING 5: beware the guy in black swinging a scythe.

Everything is out to get me.

[jsinger]

has infected 161 documented patients, killing 86 of them.

That figure which I've heard on TV too is terrifying BUT surely if someone contracted a mild case of the disease (it can be mild, I understand), then the world would probably never learn that it was bird flu...just another Thai or Turkish villager with a bit of a cold.

I'd like to think there were thousands of "undocumented patients" who never got very ill.

Heck, even black plague and smallpox only killed about 1/3...500 years before the invention of Nyquil

[Matt Probert]

Bird Flu? Don't get in a flap over it!

As a parent I'm more concerned about the vastly more likely possibility of my children being involved in a motor accident than bird flu.

Surely not another pharmaceutical scam to spread paranoida and sell billions of toxic drugs?

Oh well, that's me censored again! <g>

Matt