The Bird Flu.

[FrostyBoy]

I live in Singapore and my father lives in New Zealand and the bird flu is spreading in Europe.

Now here is the funny thing... I have not heard one ounce of information on the Bird Flu here in Singapore, mind you, I read the newspaper everyday, and word of mouth spreads fast here and I have heard nothing.

Yet, my father sends me this message (icq):

=======================================

bird flue...i have just spent 2,000 on rubber gloves, masks and alcohol for the school. The principal asked me to get some and store for an emergancy...

the govt has purchased drugs to combat it, 200,000,000 birds have now died from it, its in Italy, Rome, India, Russia, Iran and now France...

they say the likley hood of people catching it from each other is 100%...it will kill 50% of those who catch it...

the govt said it can not keep up with buring people and will dig mass graves. They have told us to stock up on medicine as chemists and doctors will close...

...trucks will be unable to deliver food and other items, power may shut down, water supply stop, not enough people to run machines needed to supply...

...they say to store enough food for at least 3 months and stay home when it hits, do not go out into crowds. Schools will close, they closed all schools b4 when a polio (?) out break occured.

...it will be as easy to catch as catching a cold....borders will close...what country do you want to be in if it hits...

...theres all ways plenty of room here at the inn ! dont leave it too late when it comes! we are building stocks...
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In New Zealand, probably the safest country to be in right now, is panicking, and me, in Singapore, probably in a high risk area, has heard next to nothing of the bird flu. (except for all the news last year).

My concern now is.. what do I do? Be worried? Go back to NZ with my girlfriend, whom has to give up her family?

[Japher]

First, the bird flu has to jump the species barrier... it ain't a big barrier, but still an if... don't eat chicken

Second, it would potentially kill as many as they suspect but that is only for those who don't treat themselves... think France a few years ago during that heat wave when they couldn't figure to stay cool and drink plenty of fluids

Third, normal flu detection kits are able to discern the avian flu, despite A and B strands and hybrids

Fourth, the strand for the bird flu has already been identify and a treatment is nearing the end of development



This ain't SARS

get over it

[Datajack Franit]

Bird flu reached Italy one week ago and no one gives a damn about it.




Anyway, we have the Olympics spreading it all over the world already.

[FrostyBoy]

Japher, why are you telling me to get over it?

I see you on here a lot, but I don't pay a lot of attention towads you - are you the local forum *******?

[Urban Ranger]

There's just a lot of hysteria over the bird flu.

Granted, there's nothing wrong with a bit of precaution, but fearmongering is a bad thing.

The main point to remember is don't touch any wild birds, particularly their carcasses and droppings. As far as I can tell from the news, H5N1 (the nasty strain of the bird flu virus) isn't all the infectious. Here we collected over 200 dead birds in a week but only 5 or so of them were killed by the bird flu. And certainly there's no evidence of it mutating.

[Japher]

Japher, why are you telling me to get over it?

I see you on here a lot, but I don't pay a lot of attention towads you - are you the local forum *******?

I don't know what the stars mean, I would assume jackass, but then that ain't censored.

I'm saybing "get over it" because I don't know why you or anyone would freak out about birds getting sick after what I had said

[Japher]

sn00py: perhaps I mean that your father needs to get over it

[alva]

This ain't SARS

Which wasn't much of a thing either (globally speaking).

[Urban Ranger]

SARS was nothing. Malaria is way worse, killing millions each year. Yet most of us don't hear about it, full stop.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
There's just a lot of hysteria over the bird flu.

Granted, there's nothing wrong with a bit of precaution, but fearmongering is a bad thing.

The main point to remember is don't touch any wild birds, particularly their carcasses and droppings. As far as I can tell from the news, H5N1 (the nasty strain of the bird flu virus) isn't all the infectious. Here we collected over 200 dead birds in a week but only 5 or so of them were killed by the bird flu. And certainly there's no evidence of it mutating.

Except for the people being diagnosed with it.

[Dis]

I don't think this will be too big a deal. But it will surely kill the elderly, children, and people with weak immune systems. Which is pretty much none of us. But it could affect our loved ones, which would be tragic.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
SARS was nothing. Malaria is way worse, killing millions each year. Yet most of us don't hear about it, full stop.

SARS was more about a country being so inept and corrupt in its public health practices that threat of an epidemic originating from it became a worldwide concern. SARS served an important lessen. And thankfully, we have much more information about the bird flu than would be expected without SARS. But we covered this before, when you made the same inaccurate post.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Re: The Bird Flu.

Originally posted by Sn00py
I live in Singapore and my father lives in New Zealand and the bird flu is spreading in Europe.

Now here is the funny thing... I have not heard one ounce of information on the Bird Flu here in Singapore, mind you, I read the newspaper everyday, and word of mouth spreads fast here and I have heard nothing.

Actually, my next post is Singapore, and Bird Flu is one of the reasons I'm glad of it. Even if Singapore is a high-risk area, I have every confidence that the government will deal with it swiftly and well. Whereas, once it hits the Philippines, this place is (even more) screwed.

But for what its worth, I was in Singapore about 16 months ago, and the hotel I stayed at had closed its egg station in the breakfast restaurant, citing Bird Flu as the reason. So its clearly on somebody's radar.

As for your dad, he's a dad. The minute the first case is reported in North America, my mom will react the same way.

[Daz]

Poor birds....

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DaShi
Except for the people being diagnosed with it.

And?