More money should be used for Bird Flu than Terrorism.

i agree. if it mutates to something easily transmissable from human to human it would be alot worse than the spanish flu outbreak in 1918.

only 60 people in the world have died in the last 2 years

as a side note, preparing for things like an infleunze pandemic could easily help strengthen our preparedness for biological and chemical terrorist attacks.

so really it would be helping us two ways.

Even if the next pandemic is not a killer one (Yes, the current death rate is 50%). The economy will be hit hard. Imagine 30 to 40% of everyone in the world sick. Quarantines will stop planes to truck drivers. Now imagine what will happen to groceries, gas station, etc..

1918 had "human strain" present likely transferred from a pig (the only known animal that can breed an animal / human virus).

This dna check has no human strain. It is far worse.

It has the ability to kill 50%.

1918, I am guessing, was 20%?

Do you think it (spanish) was around 2 years prior to its media inception? This is pure animal flu that is capable of transferring to a human and destroying his lungs in a matter of hours.

But all that is just news hype. I am sold on Fox News.

Back to your regularly scheduled arab watch

It has to start somewhere. H5N1 needs to learn and adapt (And scientists now have the proof it's learning fast..), give him a chance. Don't worry, he will soon find the keys. He infected 117 people and 60 died. Oh, that doesn't seem a lot.. But trust me, once it's learned to infect human cells, you won't have time to say "Oh shit..".

The death rate of Spanish flu (H1N1) was 1 to 2%

I've bought Tamiflu as a precaution as i know our government won't have enough supplies - nor will many.

i agree, it seems to be the more immediate threat

I was going to go with Dayquil.

Not anyhwere near that ... less then 5 %.

Deaths from Flu: 63,730 annual deaths in the United States last year.

Deaths from "Bird" Flu: 60 in Asia in last 11 months.

Can you say FEAR MONGERING MEDIA?

What's that famous saying....

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

Predicted range of death by scientists & docs that I've read up on are saying anywhere from 5-250m will take a dirt nap *WHEN* this happens.

This year? maybe
Next year? bigger maybe

I hope it floats over us this flu season so we have a little more time to ramp up vaccine & tamiflu/relenza stockpiles. We are sOOOOOO not prepared for this right now. :/

We need to thin the herd anyway. It's time.

who's to say the terrorists didn't start this so called 'flu' ..i say we kill them then ask questions later!!

I know it's scary and people get hyped up after reading all the facts about this flu. But it's the flu. If it becomes human to human there is no stopping it. The flu spreads and kills thousands every year. There is no way to stop it if it happens. Airports will shut down, travel will cease, and people will die. End of story. If you think you need your government to protect you against this, you will be one of the many hurting if it happens.

Dude are you dumb ? the medias caught this up all at the same time ... but you guys are WAY late on the news (us). This has been going on for couple years now . And IF it mutates to hit humans, we will be in deep shit. We definitly need to prepare.

I say bomb the birds

easy solution.. send sick birds to terrorists as presents..

I would support bombing of the birds.

Suppose ya gotta find a use for flying metal that cost billions.


Seriously, disease is far more relevant that some terrorists who are going to strike anywhere/time anyways. If it's not bin Laden it will be someone else.

Disease can wipe out millions and leave more millions suseptible to other problems.

-We report 300millions dead!
-So, you actually saw them?
-No..we are just.. reporting it!...


haha sorry... I just love southpark...

This bird flu was discoverd over 5 years ago. 60 people have died.
What`s the chance of getting infected? And even if you get infected you will probably survive!





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the death rate is always changing...I read something yesterday saying that the death rate went down from 70 to 35% over the last months...and apparently scientists are more worried than relieved by that fact:
"As fewer people are dying from the bird flu, scientists are now concerned that the flu strain is becoming less deadly and, therefore, more likely to spark a pandemic. As people are more likely to survive the bird flu, they have more of an opportunity to spread the disease."

http://www.newstarget.com/007485.html

in other words: Higher death rate = less chance of spreading the disease...

they already found a vaccine for the animals in hungary

With right money, they could stop it at the bird level, or come out with a proper dose to infect humans with (flu shot).

The key to a shot would be low-cost production / distribution. Getting it to Asian farmers would be key.

Talk about shortsightedness

No one is worried about the current bird flu... everyone is worried about what it'll mutate to... if you're going to join the discussion, at least get on the right page

if the flu comes..we can all get shots...and the strong will survive...most here willbe fine as they never leave their house

i don't think so... i totally agree with you!

Bump.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/condi...lan/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Tuesday that his flu pandemic plan calls for investing in technology for greater vaccine production and breaking down barriers to bring it online quicker.

In a speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Bush said the plan provides funding for early detection, containment and treatment of an outbreak.

The strategy also calls for improving the process of creating flu vaccines and stockpiling antiviral drugs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told CNN earlier Tuesday that a key element of the plan is preparing communities to identify and contain an outbreak as quickly as possible and to treat infected patients.

"A pandemic is unique among disasters. It could happen in 5,000 different communities around the world at the same time, and no central place can manage all of those difficulties, and so local communities need to be ready, and part of the president's plan is to assure that they are," Leavitt said. (Watch Leavitt discuss plans to fight the flu -- 3:40)

While it does not appear likely there will be a pandemic in the near future, Leavitt said, the United States needs to prepare for such an event now.

"We're not as well-prepared today as we want to be," Leavitt said. "We're better prepared than we were yesterday, and we'll continue to get better prepared every day as time goes forward."

By the end of the year, more than 4 million courses of antiviral treatment should be on hand, though that number is far lower than what the World Health Organization has urged.

The secretary said that antiviral drugs are only part of the solution.

"We need to have a comprehensive plan. The fundamental is vaccines," he said.

"We need everyone in America to be able to have a vaccine that will protect them and their children and their loved ones from having a pandemic flu, and we need to have the capacity to manufacture enough in six months that everyone could have one," Leavitt said.

Part of the president's plan, he said, will deal with what he called "junk lawsuits" that stifle the output of vaccine manufacturers.

"The manufacturers simply refuse to make it if they haven't got some protection, so that's part of the president's plan to provide that type of liability protection," Leavitt said.

The administration's announcement comes as disaster coordinators from Pacific Rim countries discuss ways to head off a flu pandemic. (Full story)

The focus is now on bird flu, which has spread to birds in 16 countries, infected 121 people and killed 62, according to the World Health Organization.

The bird flu virus H5N1 has circulated largely among flocks in Asia, though it has spread to birds in 16 countries, including Russia and parts of Europe. In all, more than 140 million birds have been killed to stem its spread, which scientists blame on migratory birds.

Thailand on Monday reported its 20th human victim of the disease since 2003 and the third this year. (Full story)

On Monday, Canada said it had discovered a strain of H5 avian flu in wild birds but was still testing to see if it was the N subtype.

So far, the disease does not appear to infect people easily, but health experts said they fear that it could mutate and acquire the ability to infect large numbers of people. Should that happen, without immediate and effective interventions to contain it, the global impact could be incalculable.

There have been three pandemics in the past century, and global health experts have said the world is overdue for another.

Garden-variety influenza causes about 36,000 deaths per year in the United States and is responsible for an annual total cost of more than $12 billion, according to a draft of the administration's strategy, obtained by CNN.

A pandemic of bird flu "could dwarf this impact by overwhelming our health and medical capabilities, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of hospitalizations, and hundreds of billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs," said the draft, dated October 24.

The Bush administration has sought about $70 million in next year's budget for mobile hospitals that could be set up in affected areas to handle large numbers of patients, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

On April 1, Bush added influenza viruses with pandemic potential to the list of diseases against which a quarantine can be imposed.

More than 80 nations have joined an international partnership based at the United Nations to fight the disease, should it emerge as a human threat.

Bush discussed the issue Monday in his luncheon meeting at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, McClellan said.

The U.S. government already is buying $162.5 million worth of vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu strain from two companies -- Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Corp. It also is ordering millions of doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, two antiflu drugs believed to offer some protection against the bird flu.

Lawmakers angry at months of delay already have given Bush money to begin those preparations: $8 billion in emergency funding that the Senate, pushed by Democrats, passed Thursday.

The money is to be spent at the president's discretion, but senators said it should be used both for medications and vaccine and for beefing up hospitals and other systems to detect and contain a super-flu.

for all you know Bird Flu is also an off shoot of terrorism. the pandemic is something we should all be concerned about, but I think the media is exaggerating their reports on this issue, causing more panic