U.S. lacks ventilators to aid bird flu victims!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AGENDA21]

No one knows whether an avian flu virus might mutate into a strain that could cause a human pandemic, or whether such a pandemic would cause widespread illness in the United States.

But if it did, public health experts and officials agree on one thing: The nation's hospitals would not have enough ventilators, the machines that pump oxygen into patients' lungs.

Right now, there are 105,000 ventilators, and even during a regular flu season, about 100,000 are in use.

In a worst-case human pandemic, according to the national preparedness plan issued by President Bush in November, the country would need as many as 742,500.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/NEWS06/603120410/1012

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'll bet a certain 1% of Americans have purchased their own

private ventilators for home use in anticipation of the bird flu the way they stocked on antidotes for anthrax.

[Cobalt Violet]

2. Well, we are in an ownership society.

If we all stopped living paycheck to paycheck we would all be able to have our own ventilators.

:sarcasm:

[tanyev]

3. If we would just save money like VP Cheney said, we could have

our own ventilators. But then we wouldn't be shopping like the president asked all true patriots to do, so we would be traitors. It's really confusing in Bush's Amerika.

[AGENDA21]

7. Im sure they have to.....but what about the rest!!

[Benhurst]

4. Over 40 MILLION Americans have no health care coverage at all!!!

Life is cheap in BushAmerica.

[Harald Ragnarsson]

5. I predict bird flu will kill as many as swine flu did

The flu bug they let loose from the lab however, will kill millions upon millions and Katrina will look like a fabulous summer cotillion compared to Faux Avian Influenza.

[pocket]

6. which one is that?

the lab one, I mean.