Bird Flu Could Hit Americas Within A Year: UN

[FVZA_Colonel]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060308/ts_nm/birdflu_un_dc_1;_ylt=As5BYVxJU6MkBCs9w96wx96TvyIi;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl



Bird flu could hit Americas within a year: UN
By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Bird flu, already spreading across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is expected to jump across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas within a year, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.

"It is certainly within the next six to 12 months. And who knows, we've been wrong on other things, it could be earlier," said Dr. David Nabarro, coordinator of the U.N. drive to contain the pandemic in birds and prepare for its possible jump to humans.

He predicted the leap across the Atlantic Ocean would take place in two stages, carried in the next few months by wild birds flying from West Africa to the Arctic region, and then brought southward to North and South America six months later.

"I just think that every country in the world now needs to have its veterinary services on high alert for H5N1, to try to make sure that they don't get caught unawares and find that it gets into their poultry populations without knowing," Nabarro told a news conference at U.N. headquarters.

[Atman]

1. Right around November 2006

as the sunspots are knocking out the internets.

[Lindsay]

2. Well, if BushCo decides to nuke Iran,

we may not be around to worry about bird flu.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate those people?

[adriennui]

3. what if we stop consuming foul?

[Kailassa]

6. If the fowl are foul it's a good idea not to eat them.

As long as it can only be caught by eating infected birds, we are all pretty safe. The few people currently catching bird flu recently are not the problem. Authorities are concerned about what will happen if the bird flu mutates into a form that is spread like the common cold.

When you can catch it by touching a supermarket trolley previously pushed by a person that had it, and then touching your face with your contaminated hand, so the virus can travel to the wet mucous membranes lining your nose or mouth, then we have the makings of the feared epidemic.

The reason this virus is such a worry is that, having infected so many birds that are in such close contact with humans, there are now an incredible number of slight variations of this virus around the world. It's like being in a lottery, the more tickets you buy, the more chance you have of winning, and this virus is undergoing mutations, or "buying tickets" in an exponential curve. When it has infected people it has been far more sudden and severe than any flu we are used to, and can kill quickly. If it mutates into an an airborne disease and keeps its present lethality, then millions around the world will be likely to die before it is brought under control.

However, even in this worst case scenario, it would eventually become just one more common, mild disease which humans have some basic immunity to.

[adriennui]

7. thank you

for explaining the possibilities.
i'm a jerm freak so i spend a ;little eztra time keeping my hands germ free. (it's not quite an obsession, but i'm always aware of doorknobs, staircase railings, etc. i have a very well thought out system.:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[NYC]

8. Do we import foul?

I mean dead foul, sold in supermarkets.

[freethought]

4. More than likely, it is probably already here

We just don't know it yet.

[graywarrior]

5. My head will explode over this admin before bird flu gets me.

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. Over 40 million Americans without Health Insurance - you'll never know,

.
.
.

until it's too late.