(Reuters) Future flu pandemic toll could be "very scary": U.S

[Eugene]

Future flu pandemic toll could be "very scary": U.S

By Kamil Zaheer

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The number of people that could die in a flu pandemic that matches
the 1918-20 outbreak will be "very scary" and far higher than the 62 million deaths forecast
by a recent study, an adviser to the White House said on Monday.

"I think that number is a very optimistic number if we are talking about a 1918-wide pandemic
today," Rajeev Venkayya, Special Assistant for Biodefense to President Bush, said.

-snip-

Last month, a Harvard University study published in The Lancet medical journal said developing
countries would bear the vast majority of the 62 million deaths in a similar pandemic.

Venkayya did not give a forecast of possible deaths in a pandemic -- which the World Health
Organization and other experts say is inevitable and overdue through some disease -- but said
the number of fatalities could be frightening.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070108/us_nm/pandemic_united_states_deaths_dc

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. There's suppose to be a cure for all flus.

I read it somewhere on DU. I'll take a leap here, but I don't think the research is being conducted in the US.

[raccoon]

2. Yes, it could be.

And another epidemic of bubonic plague could be very scary.

Or Ebola, dengue fever, you name it.

More scaremongering from the so-called msm.

[Selteri]

8. Scaremongering from both.

Scaremongering from the Media to tell us that it'll be so horrible.

Scaremongering from the health agencies for telling us how horrible it will be in their simulations.

The former does it for ratings.

The latter does it for funding so they might better stop something like that from coming to fruition. It almost makes it forgivable.

[Skidmore]

3. After that bug I had over the holidays, I'm not afraid of anything.

I've been to the door of the underworld and back to the land of the living. I'm well now and at the end of time it will be me and the cockroaches duking it out for control of the universe.

[woodsprite]

5. Lord pissypants must be very unhappy with the Dem

Congress. Look how many "scare" tactics have been used in the last 100 hours :evilgrin:

[tavalon]

6. Isn't that one a fascinating trip?

I mean during it, one almost wants to die, to shed this body causing so much pain but to be able to come back from the edge is a hoot. I had a near death experience about three years ago after a bout of flu that ended up as a secondary pneumonia (and I have asthma - bad combo). My experience wasn't like the descriptions I've read but it was a NDE. Kind of put things into a different perspective for me.

[napi21]

4. Are they trying to revive the bird flu scare AGAIN?

People can't be scared by their fear mongering over terrorism anymore, so now they have to find some NEWscare tactic! Geesh!!!!

[ProfessorGAC]

7. First Thing I Thought Of Too

The bird flu thing was described as a potential pandemic that could kill millions. And the result of that was. . . ? Now, certainly the most vulnerable in the population should be aware, but this does seem like fear mongering to me, too!
The Professor

[Avalux]

9. Yes, it could be "very scary". So could a meteor slamming into the earth.

An avian flu pandemic IS a possibility and even though it hasn't happened yet, it could (nature/evolution at work, despite our efforts to control it). But the way the media sensationalizes the possibility is pointless and stupid.

[Javaman]

10. it's that time of the year again!!!

Time to panic over the threat of the bird flu!!

But notice that since rumspuke is out (he has a huge stock holding in the company that makes tamiflu) the dire warnings have evaporated.

Funny how that works, huh?

I knew it was bullshit then, I know it's bullshit now.

[leeroysphitz]

11. Aw JEEZ...

Not this sh@t again...