Bird Flu

[Desertthorn]

So, what are your thoughts. The world is talking about a pandemic of bird flu and folks are already stocking up on "stuff" that they think might help, but I wonder if anything will really help.
Flu shots ? but there isn't enough to go around for everyone, and will the flu shot thats developed actually help the strain that eventually hits. Thats a gamble.

[cleochatra]

Re: Bird Flu

I'm all about the flu shots and reasonable prevention. Everything else is essentially a crapshoot.

[yemenitegreen]

Re: Bird Flu

As I am the author of a German medical weblog I've had some time to think about all that bird flu stuff.

I am not convinved a flu shot will help with the bird flu, but is a good thought anyway. IF the bird flu is going to hit humans, nobody knows how. Recent studies on the Spanish flu in 1918 showed that the virus, which was a mutation of avine flu, too, did NOT combine its genes with human influenza, but mutated to a far more hazardous variety all by itself.

Drugs like tamiflu, which are in general anti-viral, _may_ be useful when a pandemy hits home. They are able to stop the virus from reproducing. But even now there are tamiflu-resistant strains and, honestly, nobody knows what is going to happen. The lethal outbreak might be something completely different...

Just try to keep healthy, boost your immune system, make sure you get your vitamins and exercise an healthy food is still the best choice. I'm afraid we might be hit by something like SARS or similar stuff while everybody is fussing about bird flu...

yemenitegreen

[cleochatra]

Re: Bird Flu

yememitegreen--I always love your posts. They are so helpful! I agree that we'll be hit with something we're not expecting, and that the devil we know we can help prevent. It's the super-bug streptococcal type things that are no longer yielding to antibiotics that worry me most.

[not2late]

Re: Bird Flu

The yearly flu shot takes about a year to make. What they do is see what strains of flu are currently ravaging the world or will have the possibility of ravaging the world. Then they make a flu shot with those flu strains. So every year the flu shot is unique--which is why it's a pain in the you-know-what if the supply is limited for some reason, like it was last year.

I don't know if the current flu shot will have any effect on the bird flu. But precautions are always the best in any situation.

I work in a doctor's office, so I'm in the "high risk" category---which means I need to get my flu shot.

If I didn't work in a doctor's office and I wasn't in any of the high risk groups, I would be washing my hands alot, washing my face (or at least wiping it with a clean wet cloth) before eating, and just making sure I'm getting plenty of rest and eating properly. Also vitamin C doesn't hurt you.

[lowcarbincleveland]

Re: Bird Flu

Prayer.

Faith.

At the moment those seem to be the best weapons against the bird flu.

And remember the media LOVES to overwhelm us with fears. It makes us tune in more often.

Not that I am not taking this seriously, but I fell into major fear after 9/11. I didn't open my mail for 2 months because of fear of anthrax. I learned alot!

[ttdriver]

Re: Bird Flu

Chances are, you're more at risk driving in rush hour.


Betty

[Desertthorn]

Re: Bird Flu

Your right about that. But the idea of an epidemic is scary.

[goin2Bgood]

Re: Bird Flu

Just don't re-read King's "The Stand" this winter like usual ::::Makes mental note::::

I usually love to read it to freak myself out during flu & cold season

[divaindubai]

Re: Bird Flu

Bird flu....well....not really sure what to make of it. Not sure if i should stay at home with the bed covers over my head or actively participate in life and go about my business taking precautions. Just joking about staying in bed with the bed covers over my head. But seriously, the whole thing is just a bit weird for me. There isn't a whole lot of greenery around this place for birds to come and migrate to. Of course we have chicken farms here and such, and we do have some birds, but not nearly the crowds of birds as back in the good ole west coast of Vancouver. So I'm just trying not to really worrya bout it too much.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Bird Flu

you aren't going to catch it from a bird. you will catch if from somebody who got it from somebody else and it will spread to other humans just like any other flu just as swine flu back in the late 70s wasn't spread by contact with pigs but infected humans who got it from other humans.

they have a total kill order for the chicken ranches here if one bird appears ill the place is shut down and all birds destroyed and the whole place disinfected. looks like the big chicken producers in the states are taking it serious.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Bird Flu

Here in Italy there is major panic about the bird flu. People are just not buying chicken anymore and most of the poultry farmers face serious problems and looming bankruptcy.

I reckon the panic is totally out of proportion... for now. I mean:

- Of the couple of hundred total deaths that there have been in Asia, all were working with infected birds.
- It's impossible to contract the disease from eating cooked chicken, and not many people eat it raw. Smoked is about the only way to eat it raw that I can think of.
- Bird flu hasn't actually reached Italy...yet.
- There hasn't been a single properly documented case of bird flu that was transmitted from human to human. The virus has yet to mutate, and it might never do that.

Plenty of time for panic, when the virus actually gets here, and more importantly, when it mutates to become contagious man to man.

Like Betty says... we stand wayyyyyy more chance of being run over by the proverbial bus, than contracting bird flu at the moment.

I still buy chicken. Actually, I buy more; both to help the poultry farmers and because right now it's dead cheap.

Let's hope it's just another of those scares that doesn't develop. There have been plenty of those in the past!

Sal

[Heidi3]

Re: Bird Flu

don't pick up dead birds and wash your hands before putting them near your mouth...just a little motherly advice

[Piasabird]

Re: Bird Flu

don't pick up dead birds and wash your hands before putting them near your mouth...just a little motherly advice

1. Don't pick up dead birds.
2. Do wash your hands before putting them near your mouth.

Thanks Mama Heidi!

[Heidi3]

Re: Bird Flu

1. Don't pick up dead birds.
2. Do wash your hands before putting them near your mouth.

Thanks Mama Heidi!

welcome sweetie pias

hey in my line of work..Avian flu..it is at the bottom of a very very long list of worries right now .....