Sindawe
Member
Remember the Influenza outbreak of 1918?
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Bird flu could become a global threat to humans
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Experimental vaccine ordered in U.S., and disease researchers warn of potential for catastrophe after avian virus returns
By Jeremy Manier, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Andrew Martin and Rudolph Bush contributed to this report
Published March 9, 2005
Compared with other major diseases that menace humanity, bird flu can seem out of place: Only 60 known human cases have appeared in the last year. Yet public health officials now say the disease is a global threat.
<snip>
In just three months in early 2004, 120 million chickens and ducks in Southeast Asia died from the strain of flu or were destroyed to stop its spread. That's more than avian flu outbreaks had killed in the last four decades combined, according to a January report by the World Health Organization.
Even after widespread culling meant to stamp out the outbreak, avian flu has returned in force to Asian flocks this year, officials say. Many experts believe the disease is now endemic in the region.
That raises the risk to humans, who have no natural immunity to the bird flu strain. More than 70 percent of people infected with the virus have died. The longer the virus circulates, the greater the chances it will mutate into a form that can spread widely among people all around the world.
Full text here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Logon:
email: [email protected]
Password: thehighroad
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Political and gun related: Remember the description of what the fiction Super-Bug Capt. Tripps did in Stephans King's work? If this beastie jumps species and becomes airbone transmissable, how do you think it will impact our culture/politics?
==========================
Bird flu could become a global threat to humans
-----------------------------------------------------
Experimental vaccine ordered in U.S., and disease researchers warn of potential for catastrophe after avian virus returns
By Jeremy Manier, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Andrew Martin and Rudolph Bush contributed to this report
Published March 9, 2005
Compared with other major diseases that menace humanity, bird flu can seem out of place: Only 60 known human cases have appeared in the last year. Yet public health officials now say the disease is a global threat.
<snip>
In just three months in early 2004, 120 million chickens and ducks in Southeast Asia died from the strain of flu or were destroyed to stop its spread. That's more than avian flu outbreaks had killed in the last four decades combined, according to a January report by the World Health Organization.
Even after widespread culling meant to stamp out the outbreak, avian flu has returned in force to Asian flocks this year, officials say. Many experts believe the disease is now endemic in the region.
That raises the risk to humans, who have no natural immunity to the bird flu strain. More than 70 percent of people infected with the virus have died. The longer the virus circulates, the greater the chances it will mutate into a form that can spread widely among people all around the world.
Full text here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Logon:
email: [email protected]
Password: thehighroad
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Political and gun related: Remember the description of what the fiction Super-Bug Capt. Tripps did in Stephans King's work? If this beastie jumps species and becomes airbone transmissable, how do you think it will impact our culture/politics?