The Bird Flu

[giberski]

Today at CNN:

Greek bird flu case confirmed

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- The mayor on the Greek island of Chios said Monday the first positive case of H5N1 bird flu in Greece has been found on the nearby island of Oinousses.

In a televised news conference, the mayor said a farmer on Oinousses who raises turkeys and chickens noted on Thursday that some of his birds had died.

Two state veterinarians were sent in to look at nine turkeys. They also took blood samples from some chickens.

The mayor said a state lab in Athens confirmed Monday afternoon that one of the nine samples proved positive for the deadly H5N1 virus.

Authorities have yet to announce what measures they will be taking. The farmer was taken to a hospital for observation.

The Romanian government confirmed Saturday that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been confirmed in Romania, the first instance of the lethal strain known to have reached Europe.

A statement posted on the government Web site said the strain had been confirmed. Its existence in Romania bolsters the theory that the virus may be spread by migratory birds.

On Thursday, the European Union said the H5N1 strain had been confirmed in Turkish poultry, and said the virus "is H5N1 closely related to a virus detected in a wild bird in central Asia a few months ago."

The EU said then that the strain likely would be found in Romania, and the European Commission said it would ban imports of live birds, poultry meat and other products from Romania. Imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey were banned earlier in the week.

Despite the fact that 117 people in Asia have been infected by the strain and 60 have died, H5N1 in its current form does not easily infect humans.

However, officials fear it could mutate into a more easily transmissible strain and result in a global pandemic.

What do you think about the flu, are you nervous or doesn't it even make you wink. I wasn't thinking about it because it was far away but no it comes closer and closer. I'm not hiding at home, but I do think about this topic, what do you think about it?

[Apila^]

...doesn't it even make me wink.

[Yannn]

As a doctor, I'm not anxious, because the worst scenario isn't very likely, but I'm aware all that could lead to a major epidemic...
An exchange of genes between the human flu and the bird flu is not just science fiction, it might happen, and, if we're unlucky, it could result in a very bad virus.
Some say we could get more than 10,000,000 people dead in France (10-20%)
But that's very unlikely.
Anyway, I'll get a flu vaccine this year

[vermeer]

Is this ontopic of offtopic? Offtopic. In the future maybe a lot of moneystreams of buying the anti-flu thing.

[Dakkus]

I don't really know what I should think, so I'm not thinking. Maybe that means I don't find the thing very interesting ;)
In a news broadcast they asked an expert "whether it is safe visiting countries such as Turkey, Romania and the Netherlands". I found that list quite funny :)

[lazza]

I don't think we should live our lives in fear, especially as we are lucky enough to live in countries where the chances of death from any of the usual "scare stories" is very low (terrorism, bird-flu, Mad-cow disease). I think it's important to look at each risk individually and decide whether your should take any action, and this to me is a very small risk. That is not to say that I do not think this could be a serious illness, I just think the risk to me is very low indeed.

When there was fear over mad-cow disease in the UK (CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease), I still continued to eat steak; before that, there was a salmonella risk from raw eggs - and i continued to eat them too....

Whenever I seem to plan some travel, the country I plan to go to has some sort of problem (terrorism, disease, extreme weather), but unless the risk has been very high, I still go.