The Avian (Bird) Flu, are you worried?

Worrying makes your immune system weaker. Proven fact.

So you can basically worry yourself into the flu. You can live in a bubble, be afraid of everything... and guess what? Still get the FLU.

My daughter had the strain of flu that went around last year. And she's healthy & stuff. I hadn't had a cold in 3 years, and wound up with double-pneumonia in the hospital. Stuff gets into your system EVEN IF you are really, really freaking careful.

So I'm not worrying, and I ain't giving up eggs OR chicken. If a bird poops on my car I'm not going to quarantine the thing.

I'm just going to live my life, and if we get sick, I'm hoping just like last year, we both get over our ills quickly!

I'm going to worry about it as much as I worry over the invasion of Africanized bees.
The media tends to over dramatize so much that over reaction runs rampant.

Thus far, over 60 people have died of avian flu in Asia, and for the most part, they seem to have gotten it through direct contact with poultry. Currently, both Turkey and Romania are reporting thousands of birds dying of avian flu, and three ducks in Romania are suspected of having died of the strain which killed the people in Asia, H5N1. It might take another week before tests being run in London confirm that, or don't confirm it. The inhabitants of the village where the ducks died, which is currently under quarantine, have received flu shots (there's still no vaccine to protect humans from avian flu). Scientists fear that a hybrid of H5N1 and human influenza virus could lead to a pandemic rivaling that of 1918 (which, BTW, killed my great-grandmother when she was in her early thirties).
A few German länder have already banned free-ranging hens, as they fear that migrant birds will transmit the virus to them, and an import ban on poultry and poultry products is being considered, pending the outcome of the tests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4331320.stm

According to our evening news, yes, but at this point it's not easily passed on. If it mutates, which is likely, it could be passed on through meat, feathers, your shoes, etc..

From what I read it is not food borne.

The big concern is if someone who has the flu gets the bird flu as well. The virus could mutate and be even stronger.

I'm not worried at this point. Until it becomes an air-borne virus, I don't think I'll be worried. If they tell me to stop eating chicken and eggs, I will, but until then I'm not gonna worry about it.

I hope your evening news is wrong!!! In pg 4 of the "quick view" on the website you posted is where I read it is not food-borne.

So, did the news say it will or may be passed on through food, feathers, etc. if it mutates?

Definately something to keep an eye on. It makes me wonder, too if our catfood would be infected before human food and if cats would be suseptible to the mutation.

Not worried. The people who have gotten the flu virus, are people for the most part, who have direct contact with the birds. The only part that does concern me, is if the virus does spread to the US and infects the chickens here. I am not sure if there is a vaccine that can stop this virus in birds or not. They say that 60 people have died so far, from avian flu. How many cases were there, that actually had the bird flu? In other words, what percent of the people who had it, actually died? That is what would concern me. If they said 60 people had the flu and they all died, that would indeed be a concern, but I don't believe this is the case, however I may be wrong. I am not sure if the people who did come down with it, could actually pass it on to other humans.

It's probably a lot of media hype...I mean, not that it exists or is a serious illness, but the likelihood of it being some bubonic plague-like epidemic is probably quite slim. And since I don't eat eggs or poultry and there won't be any birds here in about a month ANYWAY, I think I'll be ok.

Who here remembers SARS? Wasn't that supposed to wipe out like half of the earth's population also?

I wouldn't worry about this as well. As long as you cook the chicken and eggs, I am sure the virus would be destroyed. Heck, they say that handling raw chicken as it stands now is so dangerous with salmonella. Well, I handle raw chicken every day and there has been many times, without thinking, that I just wipe my hands dry with a paper towel and go on to eat. I have not had salmonella yet. Not that I am saying that is a safe practice. Again, proper handling will help stop infection from food. As for this virus being spread through food, I would NOT listen to the media. Again, they always blow everyting out of proportion. This virus may not be able to stay alive long outside a warm host. As bad as the AIDS virus is, it can not live long outside a warm host, so the same may be true for this virus as well. It would just be a matter of how strong the virus is in the environment. If it is as bad as a cold virus, there could be problems, because the cold virus can live on outside surfaces for quite a while. That is why it is spread so easily. But, until the TRUE facts about this virus are known, I will not listen to any media input on it. I will wait until the CDC makes a statement.

Media hype - more than 60 people a year die from "regular" flu. And I had heard that not a lot of poultry died from it in Turkey and Romania - they were killed in fear of it.

The news said "up to" 120 people, which would mean a fatality rate of 50%. However, that figure is for reported cases, and those people, with one or two exceptions, had direct contact with live poultry. Also: I live in Western Europe, so the chances of it spreading from Asia to here (reported cases in Russia, Turkey, and Romania) via migrating birds are much greater than of it spreading to North or South America.
I don't think there are any grounds for panic. I'm not going to stop feeding Jamie and ZsaZsa poultry (not that they eat that much - he in particular doesn't like it), nor will I stop buying it for us. I had a flu shot on Friday, but that was at the recommendation of the Department of Education (I'm a teacher) and our vet (Jamie was ill with human influenza last month, and I don't want to get the new strain and pass it on to him).

I am very worried about this - less for myself personally than what an epidemic will do. I have worked with Drs without Borders in so many countries and have seen what epidemics can do to ppl who have no immunity to some illness. And this one sounds very nasty. I know the media hype this stuff and I am not an infectious disease specialist - tho have a couple friends who are experts in the field and the fact they are so worried worries the heck out of me! I think it's silly - from what I heard this AM on the radio news - for someone to recommend Theraflu or whatever it is. I suppose any of those homeopathic remedies are as good as the next but it all depends on how good one's immune system is. As usual, were the bird flu to migrate here - and it really is just a matter of time now (if you think of the 1918 flu, there were no jets who took a few hrs to arrive from Africa like now) and the bird flu has today been detected in South America (Bolivia).

I am not ready to panic tho - just hope our public health system can cope. Sadly, my experience in New Orleans recently tells me we may not be able to - can we really cope with 1/10th of our population sick with an illness we have no immunity for? And the ensuing panic? That will be the prob - the loss of civil rights (Martial law was declared in NO as you recall) and govts here have the right to quarantine ppl tho they have not used it since the 50's. Anyway, I hope it does not affect us but when the experts I have respect for are so worried, I have to be too. These came ppl were not worried about anything else - hohum about all the other stuff but not this.

Not actually worried at this point, We can't be in a panic about everything, just stay informed. and load up on Vitamins <<<that may be wrong
But I am starting to look at Chicken for dinner a good bit different

I agree with this...... As of right now its not an airborne virus...so that is good...this very much could change...but as of right now, worrying about it isnt going to do us a bit of good.....
staying informed is our best defence at this time

I thought maybe you were going to say something about the chicken for dinner

I explained above why I got a flu shot last week. My brother-in-law's wife, who also works with the public, got a recommendation from her doctor to have a flu shot this year. He told her that if she became ill, and "normal" human influenza couldn't be ruled out because she wasn't immunized, she could find herself quarantined under suspicion of SARS or avian flu.

The media sure does get us all hyped doesn't it! Then you have the so-called experts - doctors and scientists scaring folks. You'll get many differing hypotheses from these folks as well. Truth is - none of them really KNOW, they are just guessing. Just like the flu shot every year is a mixture that the scientists have taken their best guess at which strain to innoculate for.

I honestly also think most of the problems these days is that we are entirely too sterile and nobody has built up any antibodies.

When we were kids we would pick a carrot from the garden, wipe it off on our jeans and eat it (now this is the same earth that my dad put cow manure on in the spring before planting). My brothers and I were rarely sick and neither were our friends. Yes, we had mumps and chicken pox but my goodness nothing that our healthy little bodies couldn't handle. I believe folks go overboard these days.

Like when our daughter was a baby and everyone said not to go near the baby with a cold. My doctor said that since cold germs were airborne, if they were in the air or we brought them in on our clothing the baby COULD get a cold and then again she may not!

Eat healthy, be sensible about cleanliness - but don't go NUTS!

Very well said

I think it's media hype. I can't tell you how many times I've been bitten by mosquitoes this year but I don't have the West Nile virus. I know lots of people who eat beef but none of them have mad cow disease. I think the extent of these diseases is very exaggerated.

30 years ago they tried to scare us with killer bees as someone else has mentioned. Since then they tried to scare us with Sars, mad cow, West Nile, etc This year it's the bird flu. I'm not at all afraid.

But I don't remember what I thought in 1981 when I first heard of a disease called AIDS.....

And you know, when AIDS first came to the forefront they said you could get it from public toilets, that cats carried the disease, and even casual contact with someone with the disease and you may as well hang yourself because you had it too.

They don't have a clue. It's too much hype and scare tactics. Just like all of the horrible, epidemic diseases that never materialized mentioned above.

BTW, martial law was never actually declared in New Orleans, even at the height of the looters. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/08/ma...nda/index.html

On that thought heidi....do you think its possible that a lot of this hype and paranoia is made-up to benifit companies.....
Like antibacterial soap companies for instance???

I personally think the hype is done to benefit the mega-corporations that produce the news. "If it bleeds, it leads." Nothing like a little paranoia to get the audience riveted to the TV for that extra 1/2 hour.

I try not to put too much credence in conspiracy theories. I don't think that other corporations (i.e. antibacterial soap manufacturers) have much pull with the news corporations. The media has enough of their own agenda (much of it profit and audience driven) they don't need any help.

I agree the media tends to go further than they should but when I said experts, I mean people I work with - doctors who are world renounded and respected in their field, people who never get ruffled about anything like this. However, we have a committee in our hospital to prepare how to deal with this when it happens - and there is no if here. Ask the medical staff in Toronto who worked Sars (you can't ask the ones who died of it) if they think this is media hype. And the infectious disease experts at the med school I teach at were not as worried about Sars as they are about this.

This is not hype in the usual sense of the word.
That said, I don;t think ppl should be alarmed BUT we should be ready. And we need to look after ourselves - eat right, get a flu shot, keep sick children HOME (I get so irked when I see kids with the flu at school or out running about where they infect other children), stay home yourself if you are ill, all common sense things as someone suggested earlier.

I do find it hard to believe we will be reliving 1918 all over again but this strain is quite unique among pathogens. Humans who have been infected with it become very ill very quickly. Previously healty people and children were very ill and many died (when it was a minor pandemic in Hong Kong and Korea). And supplies of anti viral drugs are limited and about 4 months is needed to develop a new vaccine.

Govts are meeting with pharmacutical companies to try to lessen the amt of time it takes and are stockpiling but the current vaccines are ineffective against a virus whose genetic makeup is largely unknown (by the time it mutates, who knows what it will be like?). I just hope that we will be prepared as a society. And the thought we may not be scares me more than becoming very ill or dying personally.

Yeah i think you're right about that...that makes a lot sense.....