Is anyone else worried about the avian flu?

[mustang84]

I've been following this a lot more recently and many medical professionals are voicing serious concerns that this flu epidemic isn't something we should take lightly. Some are estimating that as many as 300 million people could die and the flu could spread across the entire globe in a matter of weeks due to air travel.

Here's a post I found on another message board:

Being in the medical profession, I'm worried shitless about this pending influenza as are my colleagues and medical profs. But worrying doesn't get you anywhere, so here's something to be proactive about.

I strongly urge you all to follow what this guy has to say (it's recent information, too) http://www.cqs.com/influenza.htm . His advice to take several thousand milligrams (don't worry, 500mg are in your average vitamin C pill) of vitamic C and lysine (an amino acid) daily, coupled with daily multi-vitamin and calcium/magnesium supplement ingestion will give you a fighting chance of overcoming the disease should you find yourself coming down with symptoms.

1 out of every 2 persons injected with the H5N1 flu shot dies. It's not common knowledge, but pharmaceutical companies have now stopped mass-producing the shots until governments give them immunity from the effects of the shots. 50% death rate from the SHOT. Unbelievable.

I'm surprised some of you are winging this like it's just another bug. It's not. It is not just a case of diarrhea, runny nose, vomiting and cold-like symptoms, it causes internal hemorraghing and will kill you rather quickly unless your body is prepared to fight the virus from the onset (it also depletes your vitamin C levels rather quickly hence the requirement to start taking larger doses of the vitamin as soon as possible). Otherwise you're as good as gone.

I've been following H5N1 very closely since 2002 and now, as we are about to enter the flu season of 2005/06, the realities I;ve been reading about may come true. This is some serious crap upon us.

And look at it this way. Up to 1 in 3 (some say 1 in 5, but those are low estimates I've been lead to believe) may die in North America from this pandemic. Next time you're on a bus, take a look at the person to your left and your right. One of you might not be here in a few months. Same thing for this forum. One in three of us won't be posting. For other countries the rates are even higher, up to 1 out of 2 or 2 out of 3.

Here's a map of where the current flu outbreaks are. It's now starting to spread into Eastern Europe and I just read a report of an infected flamingo found in Kuwait, the first case of the virus in the Arabian Peninsula.


I truly hope this ends up like SARS where we got all worried but it was eventually contained...however this H5N1 flu is looking to be a much more serious matter.

[Chris_Doane]

Well...check my sig. :D Edited November 11, 2005 by CD/BP

[aaaantoine]

Yes, I'm concerned. "1 in 3" is a statistic I've heard before, in one of those "crazy" doomsday prophecies...

[bowtie_dude]

I don't even get the much more common and less deadly regular flu...over the even MORE common cold...why would I worry about something thats only killed, what? 7 people worldwide?

[Croc]

I'm not concerned. If I get it I get it, if not then not. I have no control over it so I'm not going to think about it and worry. Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it doesn't take you anywhere.

[aaaantoine]

Croc, that's a reasonable attitude to have. I wish I could be as calm about it, but I was raised to be neurotic. Bowtie dude, the threat that they speak of is yet to come. The virus will only become dangerous if it mutates so that it can easily pass through humans. From what I've read, that can happen if the virus goes through pigs, since they can supposedly carry both avian and human diseases.

[Petra]

If it happens, it happens. No sense worrying about it. Humanity is overdue for a massive outbreak of disease, anyway. Remember, the last time we had one was 1918... almost 90 years ago. Interestingly enough, my grandfather was born in 1918. Him and his parents all survived the Spanish flu. Hope that bodes well for me!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

It worries me pretty badly.

[chris]

I'm not concerned.  If I get it I get it, if not then not.  I have no control over it so I'm not going to think about it and worry.  Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it doesn't take you anywhere.

[post="41878"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Van Wilder is a genius. at any rate, I agree. worrying doesn't affect the outcome, maintaining health tends to... keep the ol' immune system in shape (as you should be doing anyway), everyone, and keep on keepin' on!

[Brandon Lutz]

Nope not worried. I havnt had the regular flu since I was 3, and Im 26 now. I rarely get sick as well. Not worried about it all. Much like SARS I think this thing has been blown a little outta proportion.

[Croc]

Humanity is overdue for a massive outbreak of disease, anyway. Remember, the last time we had one was 1918... almost 90 years ago.

[post="41906"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Ever hear about AIDS??? :blink:

[mustang84]

This is much different than AIDS though...AIDS can be controlled through safe sex or abstinence; bird flu can't until we discover a vaccine that actually fights it. So far, the vaccines they have created have proved unsuccessful. And even if we do figure out something that works, flu commonly mutates into different strains that get more and more difficult each time. Hence why the guy suggested not getting the Tamiflu vaccine because the flu will only find ways to become immune to it. Also, if I remember correctly, there was an outbreak of disease in the late 50s. I remember my dad saying something about it being around when he was born, and that was 1957. Edited November 11, 2005 by mustang84

[bowtie_dude]

I'm just not the type that worries about getting sick or germs or crap like that. And whats funny is that my wife is a nurse which has made her into almost a complete germaphobe. Guess who gets sick more often? She does. I got bronchitis back in...January. First time I'd been sick in YEARS and I got over it in a weekend.

[chris]

she's a nurse, she's around a lot more sick people, right?

[pow]

I have an immune system with the strength of, of... something weak. Yeah...

[Croc]

So what were those differences between avian flu and AIDS? Granted one is an STD, but other than that there were a lot of similarities you listed...high rate of mutation...lack of effective treatments...etc AIDS is one tough virus. Technically, a retrovirus, and not because it was big in the 80s. Something to do with the way it replicates...from RNA to DNA I think not sure...For all the talk of how easy it is to contain it, I suggest you go to Africa sometime.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

hey weve dodged ebola several times, and ebola is a hell of a lot worse than this. 50-90% death rate compared to what? 33%?

[Nick]

I'm not concerned.  If I get it I get it, if not then not.  I have no control over it so I'm not going to think about it and worry.  Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it doesn't take you anywhere.

[post="41878"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Seriously...I didn't even hear about this up until reading this thread...well, I may have heard the term "bird flu" or stuff like that passed around, but never knew what it was exactly, nor do I care...Some may say I don't hold my life in very high value...well, you're probably right...like i said, I don't care :P

[Lance Truthhammer]

Clearly, there is nothing to be legitimately worried about at the moment. But, that is not to say that we should not be actively trying to formulate a workable vaccine. I am not sure if I take anything in the article as realistic, a lot of the facts are off and others are speculation. Also, I don't like the notion that "humanity is due for a major outbreak" I think that speaks of outbreaks as a good thing. Still, it is important to look at this in perspective. It has only killed 70 people or so, but it hasn't mutated, and, while we don't know how it will mutate, if it does it may become quite deadly and communicable among humans. And if the attributes remain the same it would be worse than ebola, in the sense that ebola is not "bad" in terms of communicability - it kills its victims too fast - the case would likely be different with avian flu. -E.S. Mail

[Petra]

So what were those differences between avian flu and AIDS?  Granted one is an STD, but other than that there were a lot of similarities you listed...high rate of mutation...lack of effective treatments...etc

[post="42161"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I can't get HIV/AIDS from somebody sneezing on me. STDs are far more difficult to transmit. This is a touchy subject, and I don't want to say that people should've known better than to go around having unprotected sex with whoever they please... But I can't think of any other way to put it.

Also, HIV/AIDS takes a lot longer to kill you than the flu would. HIV will often lie, more or less dormant, in your system for years, even more than a decade now, thanks to advances in medicine. You can go for weeks after contracting HIV without experiencing any symptoms whatsoever. By contrast, the Spanish flu reportedly killed people in a matter of minutes. If you reasearch it, you'll find stories about how one person with the Spanish flu got on a bus, and, half an hour later, 5 people were dead. Even if that is not true (I'll admit, it does sound very specious), when you have the flu, it usually takes about, let's say, 12 hours for you to become noticably ill, correct? 12 hours vs. several years... pretty big contrast there, don't you think?