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the flu: chicken little for some, golden goose for others
2005-12-02 11:09:37
Crowded conditions raise the danger of avian flu-for the chickens.
December 2005 | Whole Health Panic Is for the Birds The recent flu flap may be Chicken Little for some, a golden goose for others by Alicia Priest It will bolster U.S. President George W. Bush's fading popularity, leave much of East Asia's tourist economy in tatters, make billions of dollars for drug companies, politicians, media owners, and certain academics, and needlessly condemn countless innocent and healthy animals to death. It is flu porn-the titillating and tantalizing terror now winging its way through the land. At least in government offices and in the media. No one knows just how genuinely flapped the average Canadian is. As you read this, I could be eating crow. But I doubt it. The deadly scourge predicted to kill millions around the globe-but especially in the U.S. and Canada because, tribally speaking, that's what counts-is as real as Henny Penny. In an era of unprecedented good health and hygiene, the drum roll sounds for the next Horseman of the Apocalypse. Remember Marburg, Ebola, Lasa fever, West Nile, swine flu, and SARS? None of these diseases killed the massive numbers of people experts predicted. This year West Nile, for instance, killed a total of 12 Canadians out of more than 32 million, none of them west of Saskatchewan. The greatest impact of SARS, which killed 44 Canadians, was fear, panic, and a damaged economy. The exception, of course, is the 1918 flu. Many scientists believe it acquired its extreme lethality in the terrible conditions of First World War trenches. Now we have bird flu. The influenza virus has existed in wild birds forever. But healthy birds, just like healthy humans, rarely die from it. We've known about the H5N1 sub-strain since 1997, when it appeared in Asian chicken farms. The strain is particularly deadly to domesticated birds, especially chickens raised in crowded and feces-laden coops. It is no coincidence that those who have died from H5N1 were Southeast Asian bird handlers exposed to massive doses of chicken virus. At the beginning of November, the death count was 62. That's 62 out of a population of two billion or more. Even the number 62 is meaningless unless compared to the total number of people infected, not just the sickest of the sick. No one knows how many are infected and experience mild or moderate symptoms. Yet public-health officials state that bird flu has a mortality rate in humans of 50 per cent and could kill millions. Of course it could. Also possible is a meteor strike on Moose Jaw, a terrorist attack on Iceland, and a plague of locusts in the Fraser Valley. So why all the fuss? Money makes the world go 'round, and just like real pornography, flu porn is turning out to be a golden goose. In this case, four groups stand to benefit, either politically or monetarily. The first is the media. Fear, like sex, sells. The second is politicians. Not only does pontificating on bird flu divert attention from more serious issues, it makes leaders look like they have the public's best interests at heart. The third party to gain big-time is the pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines and anti-viral drugs. Bush wants $7.1 billion to prepare the United States for avian flu. That includes $4 billion for vaccines and $1 billion to stockpile anti-viral drugs. In the space of a few short months, the anti-viral drug Tamiflu has gone from lacklustre to blockbuster. It is now the most sought-after drug in the world. Here's where politics and business mix. The prospect of bird flu is good news for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. According to a recent report in Fortune magazine, Rumsfeld is an investor in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu. While the drug is manufactured and marketed by Swiss company Roche, Gilead receives a 10 per cent royalty from Roche. Rumsfeld, who served as Gilead's chairman from 1997 until 2001, still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million. Academics, research---ers, and public-health experts are the last group who benefit from flu porn. That's be-cause they're always looking for funding, and what research could be more worthy than investigating some aspect of an imminent pandemic? My advice for fighting the human flu-no connection to H5N1-is to eat right, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and reduce stress. During flu season, take extra care by washing your hands often, staying home when sick, and not spending many hours indoors with lots of people. Oh yeah, and take news reports with a grain of salt. Meanwhile, in another corner of the universe, one billion people lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation. Every year, this results in four billion cases of diarrhea, which cause almost two million deaths, mostly among children under five. Life would be a lot easier to take if leaders tackled real health problems. Just don't expect that to happen anytime soon-you could end up with egg on your face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alicia Priest is a Victoria-based writer and former registered nurse who plans to install chickens in her backyard someday. http://www.shared-vision.com/2005/sv1812/birdflu1812.html fairuse
2005-12-02 12:10:49
fresh~horses wrote: > Crowded conditions raise the danger of avian flu-for the chickens. > > > December 2005 | Whole Health > Panic Is for the Birds > The recent flu flap may be Chicken Little for some, a golden goose for > others > by Alicia Priest > > > It will bolster U.S. President George W. Bush's fading popularity, > leave much of East Asia's tourist economy in tatters, make billions > of dollars for drug companies, politicians, media owners, and certain > academics, and needlessly condemn countless innocent and healthy > animals to death. > > It is flu porn-the titillating and tantalizing terror now winging its > way through the land. At least in government offices and in the media. > No one knows just how genuinely flapped the average Canadian is. > > As you read this, I could be eating crow. But I doubt it. The deadly > scourge predicted to kill millions around the globe-but especially in > the U.S. and Canada because, tribally speaking, that's what > counts-is as real as Henny Penny. > > In an era of unprecedented good health and hygiene, the drum roll > sounds for the next Horseman of the Apocalypse. Remember Marburg, > Ebola, Lasa fever, West Nile, swine flu, and SARS? None of these > diseases killed the massive numbers of people experts predicted. This > year West Nile, for instance, killed a total of 12 Canadians out of > more than 32 million, none of them west of Saskatchewan. The greatest > impact of SARS, which killed 44 Canadians, was fear, panic, and a > damaged economy. > > The exception, of course, is the 1918 flu. Many scientists believe it > acquired its extreme lethality in the terrible conditions of First > World War trenches. > > Now we have bird flu. The influenza virus has existed in wild birds > forever. But healthy birds, just like healthy humans, rarely die from > it. We've known about the H5N1 sub-strain since 1997, when it > appeared in Asian chicken farms. The strain is particularly deadly to > domesticated birds, especially chickens raised in crowded and > feces-laden coops. It is no coincidence that those who have died from > H5N1 were Southeast Asian bird handlers exposed to massive doses of > chicken virus. At the beginning of November, the death count was 62. > That's 62 out of a population of two billion or more. Even the number > 62 is meaningless unless compared to the total number of people > infected, not just the sickest of the sick. No one knows how many are > infected and experience mild or moderate symptoms. Yet public-health > officials state that bird flu has a mortality rate in humans of 50 per > cent and could kill millions. Of course it could. Also possible is a > meteor strike on Moose Jaw, a terrorist attack on Iceland, and a plague > of locusts in the Fraser Valley. > > So why all the fuss? Money makes the world go 'round, and just like > real pornography, flu porn is turning out to be a golden goose. In this > case, four groups stand to benefit, either politically or monetarily. > The first is the media. Fear, like sex, sells. > > The second is politicians. Not only does pontificating on bird flu > divert attention from more serious issues, it makes leaders look like > they have the public's best interests at heart. > > The third party to gain big-time is the pharmaceutical companies that > make vaccines and anti-viral drugs. Bush wants $7.1 billion to prepare > the United States for avian flu. That includes $4 billion for vaccines > and $1 billion to stockpile anti-viral drugs. In the space of a few > short months, the anti-viral drug Tamiflu has gone from lacklustre to > blockbuster. It is now the most sought-after drug in the world. > > Here's where politics and business mix. The prospect of bird flu is > good news for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. According to a > recent report in Fortune magazine, Rumsfeld is an investor in Gilead > Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to > Tamiflu. While the drug is manufactured and marketed by Swiss company > Roche, Gilead receives a 10 per cent royalty from Roche. Rumsfeld, who > served as Gilead's chairman from 1997 until 2001, still holds a > Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million. > > Academics, research---ers, and public-health experts are the last group > who benefit from flu porn. That's be-cause they're always looking > for funding, and what research could be more worthy than investigating > some aspect of an imminent pandemic? > > My advice for fighting the human flu-no connection to H5N1-is to > eat right, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and reduce stress. > During flu season, take extra care by washing your hands often, staying > home when sick, and not spending many hours indoors with lots of > people. Oh yeah, and take news reports with a grain of salt. > > Meanwhile, in another corner of the universe, one billion people lack > access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation. Every > year, this results in four billion cases of diarrhea, which cause > almost two million deaths, mostly among children under five. > > Life would be a lot easier to take if leaders tackled real health > problems. Just don't expect that to happen anytime soon-you could > end up with egg on your face. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Alicia Priest is a Victoria-based writer and former registered nurse > who plans to install chickens in her backyard someday. > > http://www.shared-vision.com/2005/sv1812/birdflu1812.html > fairuse The american giant Tyson Foods made a killing and continues to make a killing from Asias past panic killings of their fowl populations as a result of "dangerous" bird flu viruses. And the world unfolds as american industry wants it to. TC
2005-12-02 15:34:35
In article <1133550577.684131.15770@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
fresh~horses >Crowded conditions raise the danger of avian flu-for the chickens. >December 2005 | Whole Health >Panic Is for the Birds >The recent flu flap may be Chicken Little for some, a golden goose for >others >by Alicia Priest .................... >The exception, of course, is the 1918 flu. Many scientists believe it >acquired its extreme lethality in the terrible conditions of First >World War trenches. >Now we have bird flu. The influenza virus has existed in wild birds >forever. But healthy birds, just like healthy humans, rarely die from >it. Not so; a new mutation arises, and the resistance is low in quite a few. At least subspecies have been wiped out in this manner. We've known about the H5N1 sub-strain since 1997, when it >appeared in Asian chicken farms. The strain is particularly deadly to >domesticated birds, especially chickens raised in crowded and >feces-laden coops. It is no coincidence that those who have died from >H5N1 were Southeast Asian bird handlers exposed to massive doses of >chicken virus. At the beginning of November, the death count was 62. >That's 62 out of a population of two billion or more. Even the number >62 is meaningless unless compared to the total number of people >infected, not just the sickest of the sick. No one knows how many are >infected and experience mild or moderate symptoms. Yet public-health >officials state that bird flu has a mortality rate in humans of 50 per >cent and could kill millions. Of course it could. Also possible is a >meteor strike on Moose Jaw, a terrorist attack on Iceland, and a plague >of locusts in the Fraser Valley. The designation H5N1 does not tell the whole story. It seems that the 1918 flu was H5N1. The present strain is affecting rather large numbers of migratory birds, and the ease and speed of international travel is much faster than in 1918. At that time, it would take two weeks for someone who handled an Asian bird in southeast Asia to get to America or Europe. Healthy Polynesians died in droves from measles carried by European, Asian, and American explorers. Measles is considered as important in killing Native Americans as all other causes. AIDS seems to be a mutation of a simian virus, and some of the monkeys eaten in West Africa either had this version, or it mutated in them. Suppose that this happens with H5N1, and say 30% of the people exposed get a serious case, while another 30% become carriers with few symptoms. You now have a full-fledged pandemic. This does not take into account the fair-sized number of wild birds who are already carrying this disease. AIDS could still be controlled by quarantine of the millions who are infected with HIV; SARS was controlled by this means, as were many others. If the scenario I have posited occurs, this will not work for bird flu. West Nile is infecting hundreds in the US each year; we can control mosquitos much easier than we can control sneezes or shaking hands. Now we cannot tell if bird flu will manage to do this, just as we could not predict AIDS, and just as we could not predict a major hurricane destroying New Orleans, and this could have been mitigated by better advance preparation. ................... >My advice for fighting the human flu-no connection to H5N1-is to >eat right, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and reduce stress. >During flu season, take extra care by washing your hands often, staying >home when sick, and not spending many hours indoors with lots of >people. Oh yeah, and take news reports with a grain of salt. >Meanwhile, in another corner of the universe, one billion people lack >access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation. Every >year, this results in four billion cases of diarrhea, which cause >almost two million deaths, mostly among children under five. With at least four billion more people than can reasonably occupy our planet, why should this be surprising? >Life would be a lot easier to take if leaders tackled real health >problems. Just don't expect that to happen anytime soon-you could >end up with egg on your face. Which real health problems could they tackle? They cannot even tackle obvious genocide, and this one cannot be blamed on the United States, which HAS condemned it. >Alicia Priest is a Victoria-based writer and former registered nurse >who plans to install chickens in her backyard someday. -- This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University. Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University hrubin@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
2005-12-02 15:20:32
Herman Rubin wrote: > The designation H5N1 does not tell the whole story. It seems > that the 1918 flu was H5N1. The present strain is affecting > rather large numbers of migratory birds, and the ease and > speed of international travel is much faster than in 1918. > At that time, it would take two weeks for someone who handled > an Asian bird in southeast Asia to get to America or Europe. The 1918 flu, while an avian flu, was not an N5H1 of the type that usually causes bird illnesses, and which caused the 1997 outbreak of bird flu. N5H1 strains are famous for actual bird epidemics in domestic fowl-- they kill chickens and chicken embryos. The 1918 flu was actually an N1H1, a bug that had usually been seen in pigs, and the fact that it was H1N1 got it mistaken for a swine-type flu for a long time, until the virus was actually resurrected and completely sequenced. Today we know that birds carry N1H1 flus (again, birds are the reservoir of ALL types of flus and all the H and N genes are found in bird flus) so an N1H1 like the 1918 virus can be avian, too. It takes a look at the "guts" of the virus (its other genes, just not the N and H surface antigen protein genes here) to tell what kind of virus it is. SBH
2005-12-02 19:19:47
Per Herman Rubin:
>and just as we could not >predict a major hurricane destroying New Orleans, and this >could have been mitigated by better advance preparation. Nice post, but an unfortunate choice of examples. Google "Hurricane Pam" simulation. -- PeteCresswell
2005-12-02 17:16:13
fresh~horses wrote:
> Crowded conditions raise the danger of avian flu-for the chickens And the same is true for any animal...man or beast. > The exception, of course, is the 1918 flu. Many scientists believe it > acquired its extreme lethality in the terrible conditions of First > World War trenches. I have to disagree here. The war did play a part, however. The 1918 flu is just another example of how the medical monopoly wishes to mis-interpret the data in order to frighten the public. The military studied that disease. It might make a good weapon. Yet, the military doctors were never able to identify a causative agent nor...make any healthy voluntary recruit ill with the flu. The flu was not, NOT, contagious. Denmark did not suffer the flu. The minister of health for that country had converted the country to vegegtarian because he could not feed people and animals at the same time with the limited food supplies due to ww1. Explain that if the flu was actually what we are being deceived to believe. > Now we have bird flu. The influenza virus has existed in wild birds > forever. But healthy birds, just like healy humans, rarely die from it. You will find that the birds, like humans, are far more likely to die from the conditions and the doctor's treatments. If the disease won't kill you, your doctor may. > My advice for fighting the human flu-no connection to H5N1-is to > eat right, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and reduce stress. > During flu season, take extra care by washing your hands often, staying > home when sick, and not spending many hours indoors with lots of > people. Oh yeah, and take news reports with a grain of salt. Very good advice. The question is, just what is eating right? > > Life would be a lot easier to take if leaders tackled real health > problems. Just don't expect that to happen anytime soon-you could > end up with egg on your face. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DrC PhD
2005-12-03 03:27:42
In article <1133572573.201805.260720@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
>fresh~horses wrote: > > Crowded conditions raise the danger of avian flu-for the chickens > >And the same is true for any animal...man or beast. > >> The exception, of course, is the 1918 flu. Many scientists believe it >> acquired its extreme lethality in the terrible conditions of First >> World War trenches. > >I have to disagree here. The war did play a part, however. The 1918 >flu is just another example of how the medical monopoly wishes to >mis-interpret the data in order to frighten the public. No doubt they made up all those deaths, just to frighten the public. >The military studied that disease. It might make a good weapon. Yet, Diseases like the flu make lousy weapons. Once they're released into the world, they can't be controlled, and they'll attack friends and foes with equal enthusiasm. >the military doctors were never able to identify a causative agent Because nobody had isolated a virus in 1918. The first virus wasn't isolated till the 1930s, and that was tobacco mosaic virus. >nor...make any healthy voluntary recruit ill with the flu. The flu was >not, NOT, contagious. > >Denmark did not suffer the flu. The minister of health for that >country had converted the country to vegegtarian because he could not >feed people and animals at the same time with the limited food supplies >due to ww1. Explain that if the flu was actually what we are being >deceived to believe. Ah, Chuck, I see you're still trying to push your beloved lie that Denmark didn't suffer the flu. You tried this back in January 2004 and I caught you on it then, too. Denmark's own official web site says you're wrong. http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/UM/English/Denmark/kap3/3-7-3.asp#3-7-3 >> Now we have bird flu. The influenza virus has existed in wild birds >> forever. But healthy birds, just like healy humans, rarely die from >> it. > >You will find that the birds, like humans, are far more likely to die >from the conditions and the doctor's treatments. If the disease won't >kill you, your doctor may. The birds die in great quantities from avian flu, including wild birds, which don't get veterinary treatment. -- David Wright :: alphabeta at prodigy.net These are my opinions only, but they're almost always correct. "If you can't say something nice, then sit next to me." -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth |
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