Avian flu could kill a billion people

[Kulapavana 0]

Sept. 15, 2005 — It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu.

 

This week, at the United Nations Summit in New York, both the head of the U.N. World Health Organization and President Bush warned of the virus' deadly potential.

 

 

 

WE must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."

 

According to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Bush's call to remain on the offensive has come too late.

 

"If we had a significant worldwide epidemic of this particular avian flu, the H5N1 virus, and it hit the United States and the world, because it would be everywhere at once, I think we would see outcomes that would be virtually impossible to imagine," he warns.

 

 

Already, officials in London are quietly looking for extra morgue space to house the victims of the H5N1 virus, a never-before-seen strain of flu. Scientists say this virus could pose a far greater threat than smallpox, AIDS, or anthrax.

 

"Right now in human beings, it kills 55 percent of the people it infects," says Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow on global health policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "That makes it the most lethal flu we know of that has ever been on planet Earth affecting human beings."

 

SOURCE:http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Investigation/story?id=1130392&page=1

[Kulapavana 0]

Source: News.com

 

Bird flu outbreak widens

Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Jakarta, Indonesia

September 21, 2005

 

SUSPECTED bird-flu patients could be forced into hospital under "extraordinary" measures welcomed by the World Health Organisation to counter a widening outbreak of the virus in Indonesia, officials said today.

 

Seven patients were today being treated for respiratory ailments at a special Jakarta hospital for bird-flu cases, the hospital's deputy director, Sardikin Giriputro, said.

He said the latest patient - a five-year-old girl from Jakarta - had been treated for five days at another hospital in the capital before being transferred to his hospital.

 

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who yesterday declared the country faces an "extraordinary incident" because of bird flu, overnight said the number of cases has continued to rise in the country where four have died from bird flu over the past two months.

 

Earlier she said six patients were currently being treated at a hospital for respiratory ailments.

 

"Two are almost certain to be bird-flu cases," the minister said after the opening of a regional health ministers' meeting.

 

She said four others are under observation with symptoms similar to bird flu.

Yesterday, Ms Supari declared the "extraordinary incident" status after bird flu left a fourth person dead, three children with suspected infections and the Jakarta zoo shut down - all since last Friday.

 

The government has previously declared an extraordinary health event for an outbreak of dengue fever.

 

Ms Supari said the declaration is designed to keep people calm by showing the government "is prepared to handle this in a national way".

 

On Friday, health officials said tests confirmed that a Jakarta woman aged 37 had died of bird flu a few days earlier.

 

The latest death brought to 63 the number of people in South-East Asia known to have died from the H5N1 strain of the virus since 2003. Indonesia and Cambodia each have four reported deaths, Vietnam has 43 and Thailand 12.

 

International concern is mounting that the disease could mutate into a major killer.

 

Under the extraordinary status, patients with suspected bird flu can be admitted to hospital by force if necessary, Haryadi Wibisono, a director of disease control at the health ministry said.

[Priitaa 0]

So, are there any natural solutions, like herbs or especially essential oils? Since those who use these take shelter more-so of healing methods the allopathics often won't even look at, I have been wondering for a whlie actually, if there has been any discovery that essential oils, which are powerful dealing with viruses, have been discovered to work with this flu as well. And what oils that would be.

[theist 1]

Haribol Priitaa,

 

The problem is a pandemic will only break out in humans if the virus mutes through contact with a flu virus that already has infected humans and is transmissable human to human. Problem is there is no way of knowing what the exact mutated form will look like until it happens.

 

We should always be strengthening our immune systems but if this thing breaks I think avoiding all humans may be the best policy.

[Kulapavana 0]

avian flu is a very peculiar virus. it is often lethal to people seemingly in best of health. it does not simply attack and kill weaker individuals. Spanish flu was like that. millions of very strong individuals died. scientists do not really know why, but it is clear that Mother Earth can administer individual and group karma very effectively... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Kulapavana 0]

"...if this thing breaks I think avoiding all humans may be the best policy"

 

you are probably right, but that is almost impossible to do. even if you avoid the first wave of the pandemic by isolation, when you finally come out of your bunker you will still be exposed to the residual virus in population.

 

chant Hare Krishna and hope He still has some use for you alive... /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Guest guest]

how else is mother Bhumi going to rid herself of the parasitic encraoching tide of human vermin that simply have explotation and murder of all the so-called resources,animals,trees,land on their minds.

bring on the KARMA ......in fact let it rain mucus puss and other disgusting diseases as in Bhagavadtam times ....serves the demons right after all these are simply pastimes of someone

[Guest guest]

just see there could be exponential good comesd of this

kills of all the war mongers and the world becomes inhabhited by the proverbial ' meek 'bring it on

[Guest guest]

ah the bug doctors are at it again just in time for christmas--- the season of giving and such illusion

oh well lets see what the new year brings in eh !

the secret (not so secret) Viral Diseases lab in Winnipeg Canada must be having a feild day growing this stuff looking for an antidote .

[Bhakta Don Muntean 0]

...but they still all want a bucket of 10 cent wings three times a day!

[Bhakta Don Muntean 0]

How shall it kill the warmongers and not - you and me - has there ever been a time in histry that mass disease wipes out bad people - exclusively? No...we do not need any pandemics....

[Guest guest]

Everything I have read on the internet about catching the bird flu said the persons ate their "favorite dish" of some kinda congealed duck blood concoction,apparently a favorite in Asian countries. Well, don't buy any stock in KFC, they will be out of business soon if this scare gets any bigger. Stengthening immune system is wise, wash your hands a lot, stay out of crowds.

[Guest guest]

just another scare.

have you ever noted that when you have the flue, the viruses are also abundant at the end? well, cause and result r 2 different things remember? then how can the result - the flue with billions of viruses - also be the cause?

pasteur's gospel is a factual heresy, which confuses cause and result.

[AncientMariner 0]

I view this stuff as all fraudulent and the faithful should have no fear of this bird flu in my opinion. Aren't there stories of devotees being administered poison but the poison not taking effect because devotees are under the protection of the Lord in the Vedas? Now I see devotees suggesting you should avoid people out of fear of getting bird flu? If I am going to avoid people in the Kali-yuga it is because they can be intolerably foolish and it would be difficult for me to keep my sanity around them not because I am afraid of catching bird flu. If people are looking for a cure to bird flu that may be a noble thing but ultimately it seems the real cure at least from a Vedic perspective is for people to get the favor of the Lord and that involves the difficult process of giving up sinful activity which quite frankly I don't see the masses doing that anytime soon.

[Guest guest]

anything is possible, but these things always seem to be exagerated, like sars, a few years ago

[Guest guest]

i think only 300 some people died from sars