Today, China informed the world that it had found its first two human cases of bird flu, including at least one fatality. The Chinese government is racing to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive effort to stop the spread of the virus. The government suspected a third case of bird flu in a 12-year-old girl who died, but her body was cremated before it could be tested.
Governments and businesses worldwide are gearing up for a potential deadly outbreak of the avian flu. U.S. President George Bush has already committed $7 Billion toward fighting the bird flu, while the world’s largest bank, Citigroup, has set up a bird flu taskforce to study prevention methods as well as the economic impact of an outbreak among humans. Some experts have estimated that the avian flu could have a negative economic impact of nearly $1 Trillion.
How is the threat affecting us currently? How will it affect society? Well, people in the non-European part of the world seem generally unconcerned so far. However, some companies, especially banks, seem to have adopted a proactive approach. U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers has held an off-site training session to prepare for bird flu, according to an undisclosed source familiar with the matter.
If a large-scale outbreak occurs, it would almost certainly affect the way the average person thinks about work, school, and social gatherings of any kind. Workplaces would be largely emtpy, as workers found ways to stay at home. Classrooms would also be non-existent, with children probably being considered ‘high-risk’ candidates to contract the flu. Sports leagues, which depend on ticket sales would be hit very hard. Even the trips to the supermarket would disappear as people find ways to lessen contact with each other.
In my experience, the more prepared we are for a catastrophe, the less likely it will occur. Thus, I believe that the bird flu will not amount to much (remember SARS?) and life will find a way to go on as normal. But, perhaps we should all be thinking now about how such an epidemic might change our lives, and even how we might look beyond what we see today, and try to envision what the world might look like years from now.
With so much concern being shown regarding the Bird Flu situation we are all asking if modern medicine can save us from what could become a human pandemic. Unfortunately it would appear that this is most unlikely, as the World Health Organization has explained that although modern day medicine has improved tremendously over the last decades a pandemic, such as bird flu, presently could result in 2 million to 7.4 million deaths globally.
It was expressed on their website, that huge demands would be made on local hospitals for many millions of outpatient visits and possibly 1.5 to 5.2 million hospital admissions in the high income countries alone which account for 15% of the worlds population.
It has been recorded that the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919 killed an estimated total of 40 million people from around the world and we are ever present of what possible tragedies can happen as highlighted by the 2002 to 2003 SARS scare which killed an astonishing 10% of those infected and was only barely prevented from becoming a global pandemic.
Unfortunately with the world becoming a smaller and more easily travelled place the possibilities of a world pandemic such as bird flu is becoming more than a possibility to occur in the coming years.
Unfortunately today the world has progressed to a situation that is ready to foster a global outbreak, such as a bird flu pandemic, and is quickly becoming virtually defenceless against such a tragedy becoming a real life situation.
The world seems to be ill prepared for such a tragedy, as bird flu, with no vaccines apparently available and no distribution network system in place for such an event.
It would appear that it would be in each person’s own interest to prepare individually to prevent their own weakness to catching such a virus, as bird flu, and an obvious solution would be to investigate natural anti-viral foods, nutritional supplements and herbs that may offer a powerful medicine to overcome these ever looming threats.
The scare brought about by the new and rising threat from the new and improved H1N1 Swine Flu Virus has scientists clamoring for an immediate cure with the H5N1 still fresh on their minds. The H1N1 strain is still part of the flu family but with a very dangerous twist, it is a combination of the H1N1(swine), H5N1(Avian) and the Human Flu virus that like the other strains is transmittable and can be transmitted from species to species. From animal species it jumps easily to humans and that cross-species jumping trait is a very dangerous combination. Read the rest of this entry »
It has long been known that viruses, though not able to replicate themselves have the uncanny ability to genetically modify the way they work as they spread through a community. Many questions are in need of answers, such as why some people get horribly sick and some don’t. Or how the virus evolved to jump the species barrier in the first place.
Scientists have gained ground and have come out with vaccines that used to be quite rare but have stepped up production making it more accessible to more people. The problem with viruses is their diverse and ever evolving genetic make-up that makes them hard to treat. Along with evolving bacteria known as MRSA which are not treatable with common antibiotics, they are a challenge indeed in the never ending battle within the human body.
In hopes of minimizing and controlling the spread of the deadly flu virus, the US FDA has approved the sale of the very first ever anti-viral face mask to help combat the spread of the flu. With better understanding of the virus and the way it spreads, which is mainly through getting passed from one person to the other through coughing or from other environmental sources it is hoped that the use of the product will help health care facilities better prevent the spread of the disease.
Called BioMask, it is treated to kill and prevent the spread of the virus to and from infected sources. The costs of having to deal with outbreak are mounting and with better tools to help combat the disease, it is hoped that it will someday be as simple as the common cold.