Are you worried by 'deadly' bird flu?

[Phil]

Not really, mostly because I'm practically a vegitarian, I only eat meat on \Special occasions if it's served, and when I eat it it's a VERY small amount...meat sickens me.

Then you're not a vegitarian.

Here, anyone else notice how *remakably* quickly this bird flu went off the headlines? I mean, if its so deadly....surely we'd be better informed.

[Hyllyn]

Yeah, the parrot died in quarantine didn't it on British soil. But it's still only with the birds and hasn't mutated yet into a human infectious form of the virus.

 I think John Cleese was the one lodging that case. 

 Coem on it's about bloody time we have a pandemic, there are too many bloody people in the world! 

[Angelus]

im not really worried about all this bird flue buisness really,

mainly coz if ya times up ya times up, nothing we can do about it really!

[In AmericEar]

I am not scared of bird flu at all. Two reasons for this are a) No-one has actually proved that it can be caught from person to person. It has only been proved you can catch it from being in contact with birds
b) because according to the press' previous reports on 'deadly' illnesses, we should be dead by now from some other deadly illness that never happened

[leafi]

well personally im not that concerned about it at the moment i mean maybe in a few months when things have developed futher (for better or worse) than ill panic! the only thing that worries me as many have already said is the lack of organisation within the goverment. i mean i know that a huge amount of the population would feel alot more secure if they began the registration of chickens etc if theres one sure way for the virus to spread its some idiot with a load of infected chickens that no one knows about. but hey what do i know! i think the best course of action is to just take precautions im a firm believer in better safe than sorry.

[Sharon]

Well tis official Bird Fly is in the UK

[Rubber_Ducky]

Bird flu's already hit the uk. A swan was found dead in Fife, and later confirmed to carry the strain H151 which IS a risk to humans. The government have set up a containment area around the scene in which no birds are allowed to be moved and all are being prepared to move indoors.

Am I worried? LOL food poisoning worries me, I'm petrefied. But do I think I should be? No. The way I look at it, it's only killed just over 100 people throughout the world so far. It's covered most of asia and europe hasn't it? How many millions of people live there, and it's only just killed over 100! Some of these areas of europe and asia are extremely poor, with citizens sharing their living areas with their free range birds, whereas barely any UK citizens are in these circumstances. The virus cannot be contracted from eating properly cooked poultry, the only risk to us is from close contact with infected birds and their faeces and other fluids. Not a very large percentage of us live like this anyway! And as for pidgeons in city centres... maybe it's just where I live, or me, but aren't there much much less pidgeons than there used to be? I used to see loads when I went to town, but yesterday when I went out I didn't even see five! I personally think there's some sort of wild bird culling scheme going on, it's spring, and there are barely any out there! I think they should have been culling wild pidgeons years ago.



What foxes me is.. if it's borne on the birds flying north for the summer, why did Scotland get it first? Shouldn't it have hit the southern coastlines first? In which case... is it already here ..?



I can't find you the most relevant article on bird flu... but here's the most recent one, from the aol news, in which it details the government plans leaked in a letter..

Further details have emerged of government plans to deal with a human flu pandemic.

The chief medical officer has advised schools should be planning closures in case the bird flu virus mutates into a form that can be transferred from human to human.

There are also reports that off-duty firefighters and retired lorry drivers will be pressed into service to ensure deliveries of essential food supplies in the event of a pandemic.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that laws which restricted the daily hours of drivers and other vital workers would be suspended.

Cabinet papers reportedly show the unwillingness of many long-distance HGV drivers to go to infected areas is seen as a possible "pinch point" if avian flu takes hold.

The documents also show government concern over a lack of preparation among big food firms.

They apparently state: "HGV drivers had been identified as a potential pinch-point by some sectors.

"Various mitigation options were being discussed, including using retired drivers or off-duty fire service personnel, and lifting the requirements of the Working Time Directive."

The newspaper also says in the event of a serious outbreak overseas preventative medicine would be given to embassy and consular staff, but not British holidaymakers or ex-pats.

And the Government fears any pandemic could last more than six months.

The documents were drawn up before the dead swan that tested positive for the H5N1 strain was discovered in Scotland.

They say Whitehall should be on alert for a pandemic on an "extended time-scale - certainly for six months... and perhaps longer".

They also suggest "more than one pandemic wave" of bird flu.

[Sharon]

They are testing a dead swan found in Anglesey also. Dont get the results back till tomorrow.
Ohh well I aint all that bothered about it 

[In AmericEar]

Bird flu's already hit the uk. A swan was found dead in Fife, and later confirmed to carry the strain H151 which IS a risk to humans. The government have set up a containment area around the scene in which no birds are allowed to be moved and all are being prepared to move indoors.

Yes it is a risk to humans but it is only a risk to humans in contact with many birds a lot of the time.

We have been given many statistics and estimates on how long bird flu will be in England and how many people will die from it but this is all counting on the fact it goes through people. There is no evidence to prove that it does.

My family is full of doctors with strong views so I can't get out of the house without being given peoples views on illnesses. The topic of the last four months is bird flu so I have my own strong views now.

People are getting into hysterics because of this illness. And who is to blame? The Media. They are blowing things way out of proportion.

• Media have been reporting the same deaths of bird flu over and over again so it would seem more have died.
• Media are giving us scary statistics going on the basis that bird flu goes through humans. No evidence to prove that
• Media are basically making things seem worse than they are. There are vaccinations. There are ways in place to prevent spreading of bird flu.
• Yeah, this country isn't as helpless as the media are making it seem...

Why should we be worrying??

How many of us are in contact with birds enough to catch bird flu? You have to be in contact with them more than passing a pidgeon in the street (which is about the most contact many of us have with bird flu)

If you aren't in contact with birds There is nothing to worry about.

Seriously, don't believe everything you're told, should it be friends or news.

 

[/rant]

[In AmericEar]

(Sorry for double posting)

What foxes me is.. if it's borne on the birds flying north for the summer, why did Scotland get it first? Shouldn't it have hit the southern coastlines first? In which case... is it already here ..?

It's just been found, the dead swan floated from Germany... it died IN Germany apparantly

[Mithrandir]

I think we've got to keep a bit of perspective here. In my opinion three things could happen:

1) Bird flu will wipe out the entire human race like SARS did. (i.e. nothing will happen and it's all scaremongery)
2) A cure to bird flu will be found by some American scientist and we'll all live happily ever after.
3) Bird flue will actually wipe out a quater of the human race as some scientists predict, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

With a lot of flu "pandemics" (something, I'd like to add, this is not) the come in waves. Remember how SARS came and went just a quicj? In 18 months it will have gone. If you look at the places in the far east where bird flu came from, they are not getting any more new cases.

Bird flu is not an immediate threat to the human race yet, so don't get worked up about it. If it really is a threat to a quater of the world (about 1.6 billion people - the populations of China and the USA combined, to put perspective on that figure) then there is little we can do about it anyway so there's no point worrying. When your time's up, your time's up.

[In AmericEar]

I strongly agree with that Mithrandir

What I would also like to add is that less than 100 people have been killed from bird flu. Put that number up against the total population of the places bird flu has affected. It isn't that much.

It's covered most of asia and europe hasn't it? How many millions of people live there, and it's only just killed over 100! Some of these areas of europe and asia are extremely poor, with citizens sharing their living areas with their free range birds, whereas barely any UK citizens are in these circumstances. The virus cannot be contracted from eating properly cooked poultry, the only risk to us is from close contact with infected birds and their faeces and other fluids. Not a very large percentage of us live like this anyway!

Thats one thing we seriously have to remember before we panic.

(Or don't panic to begin with)

[Blaen]

Wasn't SARS supposed to wipe us all out? I'll not be worried about bird flu until I here on the news that it's mutated and can now be spread from human to human. Even then I won't be too worried unless someone I know contracts it, and then I'll just stay away from them...Problem solved .

[malkcontent]

What should be done to prevent the spread of a deadly strain of bird flu found in Turkey?
EU veterinary officials are meeting in Brussels to discuss new measures to prevent bird flu spreading.

The UK government has said people should not panic after the discovery of the deadly strain in birds in Turkey.

The European Commission has already banned imports of live birds from both Turkey and Romania.

Are you worried about a 'deadly' bird flu pandemic? Do you think the preparations taken to combat bird flu are adequate? What else should be done to tackle bird flu?

I'm not worried because there are so many if's and maybe's here for making it deadly in the slightest

IF someone has normal flu and IF they work with birds and IF they get it off them then it MIGHT turn into something that could kill a lot of us.


Way too alarmist. The biggest thing likely is that price of chicken goes up.

[Rowiel the Elven Maiden]

i bought the medicine.. better safe then sorry

Call to undefined function tportal_version()