Bird flu likely in US flocks soon: Health Secretary

[RamboLiberal]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060301/ts_nm/birdflu_usa_dc_3

The lethal avian flu that is spreading rapidly around the world could soon infect wild birds and domesticated flocks in the United States, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Wednesday.

In testimony to a congressional panel on his agency's budget for combating a possible avian flu outbreak among humans, Leavitt told senators that no one knows when or if the virus will pose a threat to people. But, he said, "it's just a matter of time -- it may be very soon" when wild birds and possibly poultry flocks contract the disease.

Leavitt said that infection of birds alone in the United States with the H5N1 virus would not create a public health emergency. Such an emergency would occur if the disease mutated so that it became easily transferred from human to human.

The H5N1 disease so far has killed 94 people in seven countries.

Nevertheless, Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee criticized the Bush administration's preparedness, saying not enough federal funds were being allocated for vaccine production, stockpiling other medical supplies, disease detection and community readiness.

[BlakeB]

1. You know...

I hope this doesn't happen, but this is probably just more scare tactics. Better safe than sorry, though.

[gimama]

2. 2 confirmed deaths in Iraq,a few wks ago

and between 5-12 other deaths were suspected of being bird flu; and it was barely mentioned on msm. I had found a site listing bird flu cases, outbreaks, & "anomolies"..think CLG, Citizens for Legit guvment had it. I'll ck on that & post when I find it.
We've got bird flu in IRAQ, OUR Soldiers are cycling in & out of there with VERY little screening..for ANY dang thing, oh, yeah, it WILL be here.

[Barrett808]

3. You have to wonder about that NJ guy who returned from Iraq in November

Coincidence?

[gimama]

4. I don't know the story

fill me in, please?
YEP, question EVERY dang thing!

[Barrett808]

6. Here ya go: N.J. Officer Back From Iraq Found Dead (Hazmat team called)

N.J. Officer Back From Iraq Found Dead (Hazmat team called)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2138873&mesg_id=2138873

[gimama]

10. thank YOU..& this is NOT a good sign

I'm looking for the bird flu(CLG?) link,but I do recall UN team was in Iraq, specifically investigating the 2 confirmed bird flu deaths,looking into the other suspected cases.

[Barrett808]

11. Yup, could be like the WWI flu pandemic. n/t

[gimama]

12. there's a good book on that ..

and I've heard Mr.bush say, several times,over about a year's time, that he was reading it, & enjoying it.
I think he meant to say he was enjoying someone read it to him.

[SaveElmer]

16. This cannot be Bird Flu...

The guy came back from Iraq in November...and got sick three months later. The incubation period is far shorter than that.

[EuroObserver]

14. self-delete

(already posted).

[SaveElmer]

18. That statement shows a lack of knowledge on the state of the Bird Flu...

First, if as I read this guy returned from Iraq in November and just got sick in February, it cannot be Bird Flu as the incubation period is far shorter than that. Second, he would have had to have been in intimate contact with a sick or dead bird, or feces from a sick or dead bird. Iraqi Bird flu cases have been in the north thus far, with only two known infections. Lastly, the virus has not mutated (and it might never do so), so soldiers are not passing it among themseleves...and if they were we certainly would have heard about it.

[Mojorabbit]

23. I think it is all over Iraq now in birds

but the longest incubation I have seen in 17 days.

http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail
<[e-mail]>

WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom is unclear. These
samples are stated to have originated from cases in the northern province
of Sulaimaniyah and the southern provinces of Basra and Missan, whereas the
most recent information relayed from the Iraqi Ministry of Health (see:
Avian influenza, human - worldwide (18): Iraq 20060301.0653) states that 3
suspected cases from Baghdad and one from the town of Kefry, in Dayala, are
under test. This suggests that the virus may be present throughout
northern, central, and southern Iraq. - Mod.CP]

Very strange that they would respond in this way though cause it was a virus. Makes one wonder what they know that we don't

[revree]

5. WHy are we not panicking over the 20,000 plus deaths each year

from the ordinary flu? I think this is meant to get us ready for a pandemic that may be real, but will certainly be engineered by the Bush administration. What a great way for them to call for martial law, slam minorities and dissenters into detention centers under quarantine orders, and then take the 2006 election away from the American people?

What a nice little plan...

[gimama]

8. that IS the plan

planned chaos, I call it.

[MercutioATC]

20. Because 20k deaths will be NOTHING if H5N1 goes human/human.

It very well moght not mutate, but if H5N1 goes human/human, we're probably talking U.S. deaths in the millions over a 9-12 month period. This is a damn nasty bug.

[DesertRat]

7. Terra! Bird Flu! Terra!

"it's just a matter of time -- it may be very soon"!!! terra! terra! fear!!
Expect more Terror alerts/threats in the next few days to distract from the breached levees story.

[Mojorabbit]

13. Yea this is a common response around the world

Russia and India had politicians who where blaming other countries or saying it was biological. But it is a only fact of nature. It has happened in the past and will happen again, just don't know when. IOW's Pandemic Flu happens.

[jedr]

9. am in the poultry industry;

Latest trends are to 100,000 plus birds in a single house.....talk about asking for trouble!:wtf:

[kestrel91316]

15. If H5N1 hits the US, start looking for another job.........

because you won't be needed when they have to depopulate all the poultry operations.

That's ok, we can console each other. It looks like it's going to be a cat problem also (I am a cat vet with my own cat hospital), so I will lose my life's work.

This is just too frightening and depressing to contemplate.

[MercutioATC]

21. Just as long as they keep it away from pigs.

Pigs are a natural vector for H5N1 (or, basically, anything) because many of the same viruses that affect humans also live in pigs. If this thing mutates, it's going to be bad.

[dflprincess]

17. "Because the terra-ists don't seem to scare you much anymore

we're bringing a whole new meaning to the word CHICKEN!"

This message brought to you by the Deparment of Health and Human Services in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and Bushco.

[necso]

19. If it's in the Bahamas

(which is still unclear: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=a5EK_3iB1fqg&refer=canada), it may be here already (one would guess in Florida), just undetected because of small numbers.

(Well, it has been over a month.)

And do remember that, at this time, it's primarily (almost entirely) a threat to birds.

However, it's clear that the federal government isn't planning to do much about it, except funnel money to our Big Pharma overlords for anti-virals that probably won't work. And this when new technology for rapid production of a vaccine (a new type of vaccine using the virus proteins) looks promising: http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_417589.html

(Although who can say for sure.)

[appleannie1]

22. I have a large pond

and Canadian Geese summer in my yard every year. One pair trusts us to the extent they bring their babies to the back door to be fed. I am very concerned about bird flu since I have no idea where they spend their winter.

[MercutioATC]

24. My advice: Don't eat them.

Well, don't play with their feces, either.


In its current form, H5N1 doesn't seem to be readily transmissible through casual contact. The real danger is a mutation of the H5N1 virus that would allow it to be transmitted in different ways.