Article

2006-08-01 Science & Technology

Scientist: No hope of eradicating bird flu

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Posted by Oztralian 2006-08-01 02:22|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 To stop eating dead carrion birds would a good place to start, unless Commie factories are gonna explode, AGAIN, due to any future secret FRANKEN-BIRD projects.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-08-01 02:44|| 2006-08-01 02:44|| Front Page Top

#2 Mmmm, carrion.

Dr. Fenner is a hero, but the article is the usual media science drive-by that cruises past the details. Money quote: "The world has got so much more difficult." Indeed. Polio would already be gone if it were not for the evil stupidity of Islamic leaders stopping vacination programs in the countries where polio is still endemic.

Eradicating smallpox was a great accomplishment for the UN. Let's give credit where credit is due, even if it was a couple of decades ago.

Influenza is a harder problem because the virus mutates so easily that any vaccine must be made specifically for that strain. We see the same problem every year with plain vanilla flu vaccines.

Posted by SteveS 2006-08-01 10:37|| 2006-08-01 10:37|| Front Page Top

#3 Not only will air travel cause the rapid spread of bird flu, so many people are living in refugee camps and other overcrouded conditions like illegal immigrants packed into small rooms. The bird flu has a great chance of stopping civilization dead in it's tracks. I hope the US government will tend to assure the survivorship of Americans, but somehow I doubt it.

Posted by wxjames 2006-08-01 11:27|| 2006-08-01 11:27|| Front Page Top

#4 SteveS: Credit is to WHO, not UN.

The first person to call for the eradication of smallpox was Jenner, but the first modern call was from the Soviet Union in 1958. An international team was set up by an American, Donald Henderson, a heck of a guy.

The eradication program legitimized the WHO, worldwide, and its credibility is good enough to go anywhere, even North Korea, for give and take with their medical services.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-08-01 11:31|| 2006-08-01 11:31|| Front Page Top

#5 wxjames: A lot of people have been working overtime to minimize the US casualties.

Stuff in our favor: the US is underpopulated, good public health and sanitation, good public understanding of hygiene, good communications to get information out, and high disease fear factor.

Problems: rapid spread because of good transportation, push shortage of all medical supplies (almost no reserves), ability to produce only 30M vaccinations within six months of obtaining the 'actual' pathogen.

What we have done. There is now a worldwide system of alert/notification, and now even many third world nations have high quality outbreak response. That is an amazing achievement right there.

The US has changed its vaccination policy to reduce the spread of the avian flu. Instead of the "old, very young and infirm", the emphasis will be "school aged children (the best flu vector), and 'ring' vaccinations around outbreak areas." This is an older technique used in other epidemics in past.

Some individual States and some cities are creating effective plans with novel and intelligent preparations, such as plans to create civilian door-to-door auxiliaries, for para-medical and body recovery purposes.

Other plans include traditional quarantines, isolation areas in airports, telephone hotlines, and computer-made mass phone dialings for public notifications of recorded messages.

Even some corporations are getting into the act, with plans for how to continue operations with staff reductions of maybe 50%, and other problems.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-08-01 11:49|| 2006-08-01 11:49|| Front Page Top

#6 Credit is to WHO, not UN.

From the WHO webpage: The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health.

The WHO is part of the UN. I would argue that it is (or was) the least sucky part of that now useless organization.

Posted by SteveS 2006-08-01 12:23|| 2006-08-01 12:23|| Front Page Top

#7 WHO is the only thing worth saving at the U.N.

Posted by djohn66 2006-08-01 16:10|| 2006-08-01 16:10|| Front Page Top

#8 WHO hasn't been the same since Moon died

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-08-01 16:44|| 2006-08-01 16:44|| Front Page Top

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