WHO Speeding Up Flu Pandemic Preparations

[Bluebear]

How about it, "W".

======
By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
24 August 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries to prepare for a bird flu pandemic with the potential to kill millions of people worldwide if the disease mutates. The UN health agency is urging countries to stockpile antiviral drugs and take other steps to prepare for the worst.

WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook says the longer the current bird flu virus strain, known as H5N1, continues to circulate, the greater the risk that the virus will become easily transmittable between humans and trigger a pandemic.

"It will be hugely irresponsible if WHO and the member states do not take preventive preparations against this potential pandemic now," he said. "Because of the huge sufferings and deaths and cost and so on that we must do it. We do not know when this will come. I hope that this will not hit us. I do not want to be right."

Dr. Lee says WHO is building a stockpile of antiviral drugs for rapid response were a pandemic to start. He says this is an important part of WHO's work, to prepare for, detect and mitigate the impact of a potential flu pandemic.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-08-24-voa38.cfm

[acmejack]

1. There is undoubtedly a sufficient supply for those deemed "indispensable"!

Unfortunately, that will not include "liberals" or anti-war or anti * types. If you want to survive the pandemic, get those GOP membership dues paid now!

[malmapus]

2. Heh and not just the "basic" membership

Need to be a part of the "haves and have mores".

[earth mom]

3. *s Summer Reading: "The Great Influenza"

History tops Bush's summer book list

Tuesday, August 16, 2005
By Warren Vieth, Los Angeles Times

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Gas prices are climbing, motorists are fuming, and President Bush is at his ranch with a book about the history of salt.

There could be a connection.

According to the White House, one of three books that Bush chose to read on his five-week vacation is "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky, who chronicled the rise and fall of what once was considered the world's most strategic commodity.

The other two books he reportedly brought with him to Crawford are "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar" by Edvard Radzinsky and "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John M. Barry.

<snip>

Barry, author of "The Great Influenza," said he, too, has been a Bush critic. But his views have not deterred the administration from seeking his advice on the potential for another pandemic like the 1918 outbreak that claimed millions of lives worldwide.

Yeah, I'll bet * Co really cares about us peons getting the flu and dying. :sarcasm:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05228/554620.stm

[progressivebydesign]

4. Is it just me??

Or do the rest of you feel like the country and the world has gone to hell since Bush "took" office??? I don't think we've lived through any more depressing times since.. well.. the depression.

[drfresh]

5. Sure seems like it.

Sometimes I wonder if this is what a RW conservative must have felt like during the Clinton years, but then I snap out of it. This is quite worse.

By the way Democrats, stock up on your cranberry juice... there was a recent study showing it helped diminish influenza's ability to bind to/infect cells. Personally I already have a stock of that, chicken soup, multi-vitamins, and a Tamiflu prescription. Bird Flu you say? Bring it On.

[Theres-a]

7. I mentioned the depression to a friend

Comparing the coming economic crisis to it,and I was summarily dismissed.:shrug:

[OKthatsIT]

6. I hope the WH Admin are the first to take vaccinations

I will never take a flu vaccination! And, if you're smart, you'll talk grandma out of it, too.

[reprobate]

8. Cam the administration vaccinations include some depleted uranium?