How come no one’s started a thread about the epidemic of bird flu that is spreading so quickly and insidiously around us? I’d have thought Formosa would have latched on to this one by now and begun to whip us into panic mode.
But seriously, don’t you think that we’ve cause to be rather worried about it? The WHO is taking it very seriously and issuing dire warnings about the potential danger it poses. It’s getting plenty of media attention, and governments across this region (including Taiwan’s) are giving the appearance of being alert to its threat and ready to take strong action to counter its spread. Are they doing enough? What else should they be doing? Should the raising of domestic fowls be banned, all domestic fowls be slaughtered, and the sale and consumption of their meat be completely prohibited? Or is it enough just to impose a few import restrictions, monitor farms, and respond on a case-by-case basis when signs of the disease appear?
Any thoughts about this latest health scare? Are you concerned at all, or what?
This epidemic of “chicken SARS” is contageous to birds. The WHO says:
“At present, WHO has no information that the disease is spreading from person to person…Most of these cases [of infection and death] have been linked to direct contact with diseased birds…Influenza viruses are destroyed by heat. As a precaution, consumers should ensure that all foods from poultry, including eggs, have been thoroughly cooked.”
The mass die-off of chickens in Taiwan, around 54,000, appears to be from illegal vaccines that causes adverse reactions in the birds. The virus H5N2 was found in birds tested in two farms in the south. This is not the more potent one that is being reported in the news – H5N1.
So…don’t play with chicken shit and cook your food well.
I started a thread called “Chicken” in Open polling whose giving it up for the time being.
Thailand has it bad, Taiwan’s not YET. Of course we all know it WILL be covered up at the onset, so I’m not messing with foul or eggs for a while meself. It’s down to fruit, veg and some fish for while.
I just made a marvelous pumpkin curry soup tonight. Eating vegetarian forces me to be more culinarily creative, anyway.
Because ‘avian flu’ is such a boring name. If they renamed it ‘bird SARS’ or something, the world would be going crazy about it.
That’s alarming about birds in Taiwan dying from adverse reactions to illegal vaccines. What about the ones that don’t die? Probably all loaded full of illegal vaccines, antibiotics and growth hormones. I wouldn’t be eating chicken at all anymore if I were you.
I ate chicken all throughout my vacation in Thailand. At a Brazillian restaurant in Samui, no one was touching it. Fuck, what can’t kill ya makes you stronger. As long as the bird is cooked, it is safe.
we sort of deal with this issue at work…this is just some info that i’ve compiled over the past few days…long post, but re: this topic…i think its worth reading…simply additional facts that you won’t hear from the health news sections of nytimes/bbc etc…
[b]
Avian Influenza Facts
Persistence of the virus[/b]
Environmental conditions have a marked effect on virus survival outside the bird. Avian influenza virus can survive for at least 35 days at 4
Persistence of the virus[/b]
Environmental conditions have a marked effect on virus survival outside the bird. Avian influenza virus can survive for at least 35 days at 4
Found this very “positive” article on effects of flu and world health…
I offer it up as light but weighty reading on a matter that seems to be looming rather large
i am beginning to panic again. don’t get me started!
[BANGKOK (Reuters) - Feb. 19 — Asian countries should intensify their war on a deadly bird flu that shows no signs of receding with fresh outbreaks in China and which threatens to evolve into a SARS-like epidemic, health experts said on Thursday.
The World Health Organization said authorities were rushing to declare the disease ravaging their poultry flocks under control and it warned people were still at risk from the H5N1 virus that has killed 22 people in Asia. “We are in an emergency, urgency mode,” Bjorn Melgaard, the WHO representative in Thailand, told regional health experts gathered in Bangkok to compare notes on fighting the virus.]
“The bird epidemic is unfolding and continuing to spread at an unprecedented rate.”
They’re now talking in terms of needing at least several years to eradicate it from the bird population, if it can ever be eradicated from there at all. That’ll give it more than enough time to mutate or recombine into a new strain that’s capable of human-to-human transmission, and thus spark the much feared pandemic. It’s more likely to happen next winter than this, and maybe not until a year or two later, but the chances are growing dangerously high that it’ll happen sooner or later.
okay, okay. the sky is falling, this time it;s for real. Now the press is reporting that bird flu has spread to CATS, house cats, in southeast Asia. Not too long before it comes to the island here. Stray cats anyone?
This could be the worst pan eppi demic every ever. Get ready. Then again, it might just all be in my fevered i magi nation.
Avian flu jumps to house cats in Thailand
Feb 20, 2004
The H5N1 avian influenza virus has killed two house
cats in Thailand, but the event probably does not signal an increased threat …
Increased WHO fears as cats catch bird flu - IrishExaminer.com (subscription)
WHO warns of danger as cats die from bird flu - Straits Times
WHO Sees No New Threat from Bird Flu in Cats - Reuters
Reuters - Reuters - and more
We have a new influenza pandemy coming up, no cure before March 2005, and it might kill up to 7 million people worldwide. Bad… Very bad…
Now, I would never post stuff like that if it came from some weirdoo organization, or some crackpot somewhere. However this time it’s from WHO, who should have an inkling about what they are ttalking about.
if this has been placed in the wrong forum, then apologies. It’ not as much about local health issues here, but rather a global health issue.
God damn! They still haven’t made an H5N1 vaccine? Wow, they’ve only had, what, 6 years since the HK outbreak? Useless arseholes. S’pose there hasn’t been enough money to be made from it yet.
It’s kind of worrying. How does one protect oneself? Especially in the buxiban business where you are exposed to all sorts of nasty germs every day, it seems almost futile. I guess my best bet is just to stay as healthy as I can, wash my hands regularly, and stock up on those masks.
My great-grandfather, a young, healthy man at the time, died from the influenza epidemic of 1918, and I would really like to not follow in his footsteps.
