re:WHO’s recent announcement of human-to-human transmissibility.

[Guest guest]

Al, I see your normally well researched posts all over groups, so I

presume that you are posting this as either:

A.) devil's advocate so folks might THINK a little or

B.) To inform us of the BS that is being touted by pharma/government whore

academia, or

C.) To drum up rs to one of your groups.

D.) There is something that seems very valid in the comments section below

your post re: preparedness for bio attack.

 

" SARS with WINGS " is not going to fly anymore than did SARS w/o wings (or

swine for that matter.)

 

Our first clue that this is a CROCK comes early with the crazy morbidity

numbers. I don't know about you, but people I know don't " check in with

authorities " every time they get a cold. How can 50% death rates be reported?

50% of WHAT ---those that make it to hospital --all 200 of 'em--- at death's

door so that their death might be " attributed " to proper cause? More people die

of lightning in a few weeks, or Malaria in a few hours than have died of " SARS

w/WINGS " in 3 years. More people have choken to death on birds than been killed

by h5n1.

 

Let's see--- if we accept Andrew Grotto's spin, guess we should celebrate

BIOSHIELD legislation and empowering BUSH to quarantine and inoculate " in an

emergency " to be determined by WHO? And, thank goodness Rummy will be able to

come to the rescue with Tamiflu. (Google --Andrew Grotto Center for American

Progress.funding to see who are this whore's pimps-- though he writes much about

Bush failures, would he even have a job if he dared report 911 or health

truth?)

 

Al, Here's an interesting (and ACCURATE) take on " bird flu " from an old

Aggie---

 

 

http://www.valleystar.com/articles/2006/07/02/opinions/opinion2.txt

 

Another view by Jim N. Taylor

 

 

 

Bird flu epidemic just won't fly in U.S.

 

Avian influenza (bird flu) has killed about 100 people since 2003, out of about

6 billion people worldwide, or about 0.00001 of 1 percent. This happened in

unique locations in Southeast Asia and under unique conditions.

 

Folks, there were more people who died during that period from tractor-related

accidents in the little state of Minnesota than in the whole world from bird

flu. There has been no threat of a pandemic (a pandemic is an epidemic over a

large area). There has been nothing to warrant a movie-of-the-week or the

recently announced federal government program of $7 billion.

 

We studied bird flu 50 years ago at Texas A & M and there has been no change in

the disease. There have always been changes in the virulence of the viruses

causing the disease. Like swine flu, bird flu is not a disease of humans. In

order for humans to contract infection from chickens, the following combination

of circumstances must be met:

 

1) The humans must have constant exposure and re-exposure to infected bird

droppings and/or other infected bird fluids.

 

2) The humans must behave in unusually unsanitary ways, such as infrequent

handwashing or bathing, infrequent changing of apparel, unprotected breathing

and/or lip exposure to chicken dust.

 

3) Chickens involved must be exposed and re-exposed to wild birds that are

infected with a virulent strain of bird flu.

 

The reason I mention chickens is because the cases causing bird flu in humans

involved chickens.

 

The conditions necessary for human infection almost never exist in the United

States, where 99.9 percent of all birds destined for human consumption are kept

in confinement, which excludes wild birds in a purposeful practice. No humans

are allowed within the bird space except those necessary for the care and

feeding of the birds or eggs. In order to get to the bird area, one must wade

(in boots provided by the farm) through a disinfected bath, both entering and

leaving the bird area. Street clothing may not be worn into the poultry area, or

work clothing worn outside of the poultry area.

 

The poultry caretakers are provided with adequate changes of clothing and

facemasks to avoid any possible re-exposure to disease.

 

You may wonder why the poultry industry is so concerned. It is because of

possible loss of their poultry population to not only bird flu, but a host of

other poultry diseases.

 

It is very significant that in no case has any infected human been known to have

transmitted bird flu to any other human. Not in my lifetime.

 

Also significant is the fact that it has been proven by large commercial

operators that the sanitation procedures above are successful, even within those

same areas where bird flu has been a problem for yard bird operators.

 

Most significant of all is that it is extremely unlikely that anyone in the

United States could ever get infected with bird flu from eating chicken, even if

the chicken actually had died from bird flu. The normal sanitary practices one

uses with any poultry meat - adequate cooking, especially - will kill the virus.

It would be more likely that one would get regular salmonella food poisoning

than bird flu.

 

So, one asks, why all the fuss about bird flu?

 

Simple: The only way the " drive-by " press can sell newspapers and keep their TV

ratings is by being alarmists and, once the people are alarmed, the elected

government thinks it has to respond, even if the money it appropriates is

eventually only partially spent on bird flu.

 

The bird flu is only a problem for the poultry industry, as it has always

been. There is no more likelihood of the virus to mutate into a human flu virus

than there has ever been. Sleep well; eat chicken.

 

Jim N. Taylor is resident of Harlingen.

 

 

Jul 02, 2006 - 16:15:58 CDT

http://health.Avian2005/

 

 

Click to join Avian2005

============original below============

Posted by: " Al Soto " atlatlal atlatlal

 

: Avian Flu The facts on the WHO’s recent announcement of human-to-human

transmissibility.

By Andrew Grotto, American Progress

Thursday June 29, 2006

 

Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) investigators confirmed the first

case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly flu virus A(H5N1). An

Indonesian man died after contracting it from his 10-year-old son. The disease —

which is carried by wild and domesticated birds and typically referred to as

“bird flu” — kills nearly all who contract it.

 

Epidemiologists have long feared that if bird flu were to undergo a genetic

mutation that enables it to readily jump from person to person, a global

pandemic may ensue. Bird flu is far more lethal than the typical seasonal flu we

all know. Unlike seasonal flu, humans previously have only contracted bird flu

by coming into close contact with an infected bird. Thus, while bird flu is far

deadlier than seasonal flu, the fact that it is much harder to catch makes it

far less of a threat than garden variety seasonal flu, which kills around 36,000

people a year in the United States alone.

 

The WHO finding confirms what scientists have suspected for some time: Bird flu

does have a limited ability to jump from person to person. While this does not

mean that a global pandemic is imminent, it is nonetheless a sobering fact. It

reminds us that the United States is not prepared to manage a major biological

incident, whether it is a flu pandemic or an act of biological terrorism. Should

we be panicking?

 

1. What is the significance of last week’s announcement?

Investigators confirmed the human-to-human transmission by comparing disease

strains among a “cluster” of victims. According to the New York Times, “The

family members in the cluster had a banquet in late April when the vegetable

merchant was already ill and coughing heavily. Some spent the night in the same

room with her, and some nursed sick relatives. The first five family members to

fall ill had identical strains of A(H5N1), one found in animals in Indonesia.

But that virus had mutated slightly in the sixth victim, a child, and he

apparently passed the mutated virus to his father, who cared for him in a

hospital without proper protection.”

 

2. Does this mean that a pandemic is imminent?

No. It is critical to recognize that WHO investigators did NOT announce that the

disease had mutated in a way that made the disease more transmissible from human

to human. The WHO has closely monitored 54 relatives and neighbors for a month,

and none has contracted the mutated strain.

That said, genetic mutations are very common in flu viruses, and the results can

be deadly. For instance, the flu strain that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu

pandemic that killed tens of millions worldwide is believed to have originated

in birds.

Genetic mutations are also unpredictable — we simply do not know whether the

bird flu will mutate into a strain capable of readily jumping from human to

human. Given this uncertainty, the best course of action is for the United

States to prepare for the worst.

 

3. Is the United States prepared to deal with a pandemic?

No. The U.S. has failed to connect the dots between plans on paper and the

capabilities needed to implement them. The U.S.’s Pandemic Influenza Plan for

dealing with a large outbreak looks great on paper, with three fundamental

elements: vaccines and antivirals for treating victims; health care response for

administering care and managing the response; and public communications.

But having an emergency plan on paper is no guarantee that it will work in

practice, as the government’s faulty response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrates.

The Plan is premised on the assumption that state, local, and tribal entities

have the capabilities to assume lead responsibility for responding to a flu

pandemic. It also presumes that vaccines and antivirals will be reasonably

available and effective. Both presumptions are false.

 

Only 15 states or cities have the capability to administer stockpiled vaccines

and other drugs on a large scale. More than 50 percent of Americans live in

states that do not have plans to deal with a large number of casualties, and 20

percent live in states where hospitals lack medical equipment that would be

required in a major emergency. Only two states have plans to encourage medical

personnel to report for work during an epidemic, and nearly half of the states

do not use national standards to report infectious diseases to the federal

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These are a few of the many

critical deficiencies (PDF) in the United States’ public health infrastructure.

 

Finally, there is no proven vaccine against bird flu. From the time a pandemic

flu emerged, it would take flu manufacturers at least six months to produce

enough vaccine to cover 10 to 20 percent of the United States and Europe, let

alone the rest of the world, even if they dedicated all of their flu production

capacity to the effort. And it is unknown how effective existing antivirals

would be against a global contagion.

 

4. What should the United States be doing to prepare?

The good news is that biological weapons and infectious diseases share many

fundamental characteristics that the United States can leverage to counter both

threats more effectively (PDF). A bioweapons attack and a natural pandemic, such

as avian flu, can be detected in similar ways, and the effectiveness of any

response to an outbreak of infectious disease, whether natural or caused

deliberately by terrorists, hinges on the strength of the U.S. public health and

medical systems. A flu pandemic, for instance, and a bioterrorist attack would

place different stresses on these systems at the outset, but the basic response

and containment mechanisms would be essentially the same.

 

In particular, the United States must r emedy critical deficiencies in the

nation’s public health infrastructure using an “all-hazards” approach.

Stockpiles of drugs and vaccines will not save lives unless the public health

system can rapidly detect and identify a disease agent and respond in a timely

manner. The United States must strengthen disease surveillance and response

systems at both the national and international levels. A so called “all-hazards”

response strategy would give priority to combating natural infectious disease

threats, which are inevitable and likely to increase in the coming years, while

enhancing preparedness for deliberate biological attacks, whose probability

remains uncertain.

 

 

The United States must also implement a new research and development strategy

for anti-infective drugs and vaccines. Current U.S. policies do not create the

right mix of market incentives for developing new antibiotics, antivirals,

vaccines, and rapid diagnostic tools. As a result, the United States is at grave

risk of being overwhelmed by a bioterrorist attack or a natural pandemic. The

United States must create new incentives for private sector and university

investment in the development of these countermeasures. It is also critical to

develop new systems that shorten the time lag between identifying a new

biological threat agent and creating safe and effective medical countermeasures.

So instead of panicking, we should be raising awareness on these crucial and

interconnected public health issues.

 

Andrew Grotto is a Senior National Security Analyst at the Center for American

Progress. He recently finalized a study, “Biosecurity: A Comprehensive Action

Plan,” with Jonathan Tucker of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, on the

twin threats of biological weapons and natural emerging infections, such as

pandemic influenza. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Los

Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Baltimore Sun, theBulletin of the Atomic

Scientists and a variety of scholarly journals. He received his J.D. from the

University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall), his master’s degree from

Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and his bachelor’s

degree from the University of Kentucky, where he was a Gaines Fellow.

 

--------

Comments

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What you left out was what Americans should be doing to prepare: Have in your

residence at least 6 wks worth of necessities, including food, water,

medications, health supplies and backup supplies in case of short-term scattered

breakdowns of basic services and utilties.

 

 

Why 6 weeks? Because that is the estimated time for a wave of a pandemic to pass

through a community.

 

 

Why in the residence? Because without vaccines or effective anti-virals, your

only defense is to keep from getting infected. To avoid getting infected you

stay away from people and places from which you might catch the virus. This is

referred to variously in pandemic preparedness planning as ‘sheltering in

place’, ‘social distancing’ and other similar terms.

 

 

You have to eat, drink, stay warm and stay informed. If you cannot do these

things from within your residence, you will be exposing yourself (and anyone you

return home to) to infection with each visit you are forced to make to the

outside world.

 

 

But why do some of the authorities only say stockpile for 3 days or at most a

week? Because of two reasons: First) That is what they have always said, even

pre-Katrina. Second) They are deathly afraid of panic and hysteria. They have

let their concerns about the public create panic in government which is keeping

the government from telling us to adequately prepare.

Do a little research that does not depend on governmental web sites and you will

learn for yourselves.

 

 

Good report. Keep up the good work.

— Into The Woods - Jun 29, 02:13 PM - #

 

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Buy Hydrogen/Hybrid (1,000+mpg) or a Hydrogen fueled only (100+mpg) or Hybrid

only Vehicles (45-50mpg), not a Hummers ( 4 - 9 mpg). The government and the

NEWS should reflect, not determine, the desires of the people.The cable news is

a melodrama of constant trivia. Government is always corrupt, civil liberties

only protect us from them. The people must lead to survive corrupt governments.

Read the constitution. (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this

includes information for research and educational purposes.) Al Soto © 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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