The BBC outbreak!

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by BlackCat
What I disputed was that a rise from 0 to 1 incident was called an outbreak - not even the danish word "udbrud" covers such a small rise.

0 to 1 is more important than 1 to 100

lim x -> 0+ (1/x) = infinity

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


The word outbreak has nothing to do with degree.

Yes it does.

It's a sharp or sudden increase

Which 0 to 1 is.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Odin
BS sensationalism. reminds me of that hyped-up "year of the shark" where there was actually less shark attacks than the year before.

I remember that. In 1995 or so we had one great white shark attack in California (the first in like 70 years) and all the TV channals spent a week on "SHARK WATCH 1995!!"

[Spiffor]

In Europe, the sentasionalism isn't so much upkept by media hype, but more by the EU's worries about it.

The EU commission has officially advised everybody to get vaccined against common flu (in general, only the children and the elderly bother with vaccination against the disease). It is also the main source of worries as to the idea that H5N1 becomes a deadly and transmissible disease once it mutates in contact with common human flu. Finally, the EU commission is giving instructions so that all forms of poultry is enclosed as much as possible. I think the Netherlands has forced all its poultry farmers to enclose their animals. It will be more difficult to do in countries where farming is more traditional.

During the "shark attack", did the federal government have a similar attitude?

[Colonâ„¢]

I don't find this sensationalism. It's true the panic surrounding similar scares was overdone (mad-cow disease sticks out in this regard), but there's have been previous pandemics that were extremely deadly. Just google for the spanish flu and you'll get figures ranging between 20 and 100 million casualties. And recent research has shown that this strain also originated from bird flu: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4308872.stm

[Colonâ„¢]

And here's an informative article by Foreign Affairs: http://www.foreignaffairs.org/200507...-pandemic.html

[Dinner]

Originally posted by VetLegion
How can they predict it will be deadly? Mutations go both ways. Maybe it gives us all something positive.

Scientists recently determined that the 1918 flu which killed millions was actually a strain of bird flu which mutated to transmit human to human instead of bird to human. That is both a cause of relief and a cause of worry. That means the last major outbeak was almost 90 years ago yet it also shows how this extremely quickly mutating flu can do if given a chance.

That the Chinese have been giving chickens antibiotics, thus making the flu immune to antibiotics, is also very worrying. This is especially true given that the flu has infected wild birds who migrate all around the world.

[Sava]

god damn chinese

[Colonâ„¢]

The Spanish flu is suspected to have originated from Kansas.

[Sava]

god damn kansanese

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Scientists recently determined that the 1918 flu which killed millions was actually a strain of bird flu which mutated to transmit human to human instead of bird to human. That is both a cause of relief and a cause of worry. That means the last major outbeak was almost 90 years ago yet it also shows how this extremely quickly mutating flu can do if given a chance.

That the Chinese have been giving chickens antibiotics, thus making the flu immune to antibiotics, is also very worrying. This is especially true given that the flu has infected wild birds who migrate all around the world.

...

Oerdin, you know nothing about biology. The flu is already immune to antibiotics as it's a virus. What the Chinese have been doing is giving chickens antivirals.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


...

Oerdin, you know nothing about biology. The flu is already immune to antibiotics as it's a virus. What the Chinese have been doing is giving chickens antivirals.

pwnage

[Kuciwalker]

Also, we have no idea how long it took for the Spanish influenza to mutate into the deadly pandemic in 1918, so it doesn't say anything about how quickly this new strain could mutate into a similar form.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Oerdin, you know nothing about biology. The flu is already immune to antibiotics as it's a virus. What the Chinese have been doing is giving chickens antivirals.

Oh, f*ck you. I know anti-biotics don't effect viruses my mistake was believing the virus was actually a bacteria. That is a very different matter then knowing nothing.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Also, we have no idea how long it took for the Spanish influenza to mutate into the deadly pandemic in 1918, so it doesn't say anything about how quickly this new strain could mutate into a similar form.

I don't believe anyone, other then you, ever even brought this up.