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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 21,636
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: PowerTripp]
#5913709 - 07/30/06 01:03 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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actually i read that west nile has for the first time hit our city recently so its still out and about
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: makaveli8x8]
#5913728 - 07/30/06 01:18 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Yeah, but people have now realized how weak west nile is and that's it's not worth worrying about. It was all media hype over a pussy ass disease.
Most people who get west nile don't even realize it. Others get mild flu-like symptoms, and only a very rare few actually have problems dealing with it.
H5N1 is a much nastier bug and is worth worrying about because it is a near certainty that it will mutate into a virus that will move amongst humans.
Smallpox is totally gone. Despite that our government recently wasted a bunch of money stockpiling vaccine against it. Of course they can't vaccinate anyone with it because it would be unethical to vaccinate against a disease that no longer exists.
It would have been far more effective to just pretend that we maintained a vaccine stockpile against it.
-FF
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: fastfred]
#5914324 - 07/30/06 07:25 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
H5N1 is a much nastier bug
H5N1 hasnt learned to spread among humans yest, but it already has learned to spread among SEVERAL animal species, most unusual. It is a pandemic among animals, one that doesnt seem to go away, and it now only takes a few mutations to become humanity's next killer flu. Ask very old people about the Spanish Flu, and they'll tell you how whole families were taken to the grave within a few days after the first cough.
Of the humans that did get bird flu, HALF DIED.
This will probably readily decrease due to mutation (dead people spread no virus so getting very sick rather than dying is favored) but the area where H5N1 becomes contagious to humans may well be wiped out.
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76degrees
Apprentice

Registered: 06/08/06
Posts: 350
Loc: Middle Earth
Last seen: 17 years, 4 months
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: Asante]
#5914508 - 07/30/06 09:30 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I hear most of the people who get sick from bird-flu work in unsanitary conditions on poultry farms mostly in asia. I'm still very VERY skeptical that we should have anything to fear. If you didn't have a good head on your shoulders, you'd think you have to worry about getting killed every time you step out your door due to the crime rate, serial killers, etc. The Media and the government do a great job of over hyping everything. Plus, the pharmecuetical companies get a big kick out of it.
-------------------- The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: 76degrees]
#5914596 - 07/30/06 10:32 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
hear most of the people who get sick from bird-flu work in unsanitary conditions on poultry farms mostly in asia.
People who work under unsanitary conditions often have far better immune systems than people who freak out when they smell a fart.
And its the H5N1 thats the killer, sanitary or unsanitary conditions makes little difference. The death rate in humans matches that seen in other species.
I read the story of a farmer who ran a chicken farm. He had something like 25.000 chickens in a huge barn. When after a weekend he returned, almost all of them were sick or dead. Thats quite chilling and sounds alot like what the 1918 Spanish Flu was like.
This isnt media hype. A few years ago when scientists saw what they were dealing with, they overnight and without media hype had the millions of poultry of the entire city of Hong Kong exterminated and disposed off, to try nip its spread in the bud. Thats that very same H5N1 thats now present in wild bird populations worldwide.
The wild birds at the moment are experiencing a pandemic which in comparison makes the Spanish Flu seem like the common cold.
The more virus particles you have in circulation, the sooner a certain beneficial mutation will occur, if it is in circulation for long enough. Right now there is A LOT of HIGHLY VIRULENT virus in circulation which is completely out of control. All we need is patient zero to contract two influenzas at once (H5N1 and a contagious human one) and two of these virii recombinating and we have ourselves a pandemic.
If you look at the past 150 years or so, the era in which medical science started paying close attention to epidemics, its clear that you are likely to experience several flu pandemics in your lifetime.
Another flu might beat H5N1 to it, but its likely H5N1 will one day become a human pathogen, if it doesnt die out or marginalizes in the animal population.
Infectious disease is one of the shortterm threats to life on earth.
Imagine a terrorist unleashing smallpox on our entirelty non-resistant world.
It would spread like, well, smallpox, and though it won't kill off mankind it will condemn millions to horrible disease and a life of being disfigured.
For the younger members or those who shun ducumentaries, these are the faces of smallpox:

Smallpox is now assumed to exist in testtubes in the freezers of many biolabs, which would be contagious if you sniffed from them, and you'd then be more contagious than someone with the flu. For this reason Smallpox is considered a major threat even though it has been eradicated from the world at large.
Half the people who ever lived died by Malaria, and in some african nations one in six people has HIV, which in Africa means you will die by AIDS. We need to fight infectious disease with the extreme aggression befitting a war against the worst enemy of mankind.
Its a small derailment off-topic, but has its use in the light of the very real biothreat Seuss mentioned.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
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kotik
fuckingsuperhero


Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
Last seen: 4 years, 24 days
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Re: Bird flu vaccine may be ready in 2007 [Re: 76degrees]
#5914665 - 07/30/06 11:04 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
76degrees said: Does anybody else think this bird-flu is just a big scam by our politicians getting huge kickbacks and endorsements for pharmeceutical companies? Does anyone here actually know anyone who has contracted the bird-flu? I think it's a big fucking ruse.
interesting fact, same government-funded company that helped Tim Leary with his LSD research was the same lab that makes Tamiflu: LaRouche.
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.
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