I am a Chicken Hawk!

Since my comrade has given a Social Studies award to a Bird Flu project I thought I would enlighten you all to what is apparently going to kill ½ the population of the world. (Allegedly) The Bird Flu to date has killed about ½ of the REPORTED cases. Since the major outbreaks have been in China we really do not know the true extent of the outbreaks or the true death toll. I believe the death rate to be much lower than the scare factor that is being reported by the media and Bill Frist. (I watched him today on C-Span spouting off about how bad the pandemic would be if the virus mutates to be transmissible from human to human.) You all remember Bill Frist, the Senate Majority Leader; he is an M.D. and diagnosed Terri Schiavo from a video he saw as able to understand what was happening around her. (Her autopsy showed her brain was ¼ the size it should have been and she was a vegetable like all the doctors that actually examined her said.) Mr. Frist was touting all the fear factor statistics and also talking about the economic impact of a pandemic. I will share a tidbit of economic impact that he did not share*. The biggest economic impact so far has been a positive for the drug companies Roche and Gilead. Gilead is the company that makes Tamiflu and Roche is the company that markets it. This drug is being touted as the only thing that can stop the Avian Flu. (It does not stop it, but it does increase survival rates-allegedly)

What is bird flu (avian influenza)?
• Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide.
• All birds are thought to be susceptible to the avian influenza, though some species, such as wild ducks, are more resistant than others. Domestic poultry, such as chickens or turkeys, are particularly susceptible. • Infection triggers a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness to a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease resulting in severe epidemics.
• In severe cases, the flu is characterized by a sudden onset of severe illness, and rapid death, with a mortality that can approach 100 percent.

ARE YOU SCARED YET?

Have humans come down with bird flu?
• Avian influenza does not normally infect species other than birds and pigs. But humans came down with the bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997, when the H5N1 strain infecting 18 humans, 6 of whom died.
Then, people became infected after coming into close contact with live infected poultry.
• Genetic studies showed the virus jumped directly from birds to humans, and caused severe illness with high mortality.
• Hong Kong's entire poultry population, estimated at around 1.5 million birds, was destroyed within three days. This is thought to have averted a pandemic.
• The World Health Organization has said the H5N1 bird flu virus is responsible for a number of deaths in Vietnam. They suspect people became ill after coming into contact with chicken feces.

BETTER CALL THE DOCTOR!

Why is H5N1 of particular concern?
Of the 15 avian influenza virus subtypes, H5N1 is of particular concern because:
• It mutates rapidly and seems to acquire genes from viruses infecting other animal species.
• It can cause severe disease in humans.
• Birds that survive infection excrete virus for at least 10 days, orally and in feces, helping spread the virus at live poultry markets and by migratory birds.
• The more birds that come down with bird flu, the greater the opportunity for direct infection of humans.
• The more humans get infected, the greater the likelihood people can become infected with both human and bird flu strains.
• Humans could then serve as a "mixing vessel" for a new type of virus that could easily be transmitted from person to person. Such an event would mark the start of an influenza pandemic.

CUT DOWN THE BIRD HOUSE AND SHOOT ANY BIRD THAT LANDS IN THE YARD

What are the symptoms, can it be tested and how do you treat it?
• When humans came down with H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997, patients developed symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and, in several of the fatal cases, severe respiratory distress secondary to viral pneumonia.
• Previously healthy adults and children, and some with chronic medical conditions, were affected.
• Tests for diagnosing all influenza strains of animals and humans are rapid and reliable.
• Antiviral drugs, some of which can be used for both treatment and prevention, are clinically effective against influenza A virus strains in otherwise healthy adults and children, but have some limitations.
• At least four months would be needed to produce a new vaccine, in significant quantities, capable of conferring protection against a new virus subtype.
Compiled from a World Health Organization fact sheet.



My take on it:

Would it really be a bad thing if half the population was killed? The overpopulation of this planet is causing most of our problems anyway. Maybe like all the devastating hurricanes this past year this is just another way Mother Earth is fighting back. We can try and destroy her all we want but at some point she is going to say enough is enough.
If this thing starts in China wouldn’t that be a good thing for the United States. China is our number one competition for the oil we so need, and they are the major reason we are losing Middle America. They are the only other super power in the world. If enough of them die then W. would think our Army could take them then they to would be in the Axis of Evil.
This is really just another scare tactic to get people to get a flu shot and keep people in line and buying pharmaceuticals.
Just an FYI- They keep telling everyone they are working on a vaccine for it. If it does break out and they keep slaughtering all the chickens then we will not have enough eggs to make the vaccine anyway. Why do you think they ask you if you are allergic to eggs when you get a flu shot? I advise everyone to invest in eggs, this will be the next hot industry. Of course this is only if you know a Republican who has some pull who has done this, otherwise the government could slaughter your entire nest EGG. (Ha, Ha)


*Among the beneficiaries of the run on Tamiflu is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who was chairman of Gilead from 1997 to 2001 and owns at least $5 million of the stock, which has jumped from $35 in April to $47 (47 is an old stat; it is now at $52). Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead in 2005.