http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4259512.stm

Bird flu closes Indonesian zoo


By Rachel Harvey
BBC News, Jakarta




The zoo is a popular attraction in the south of the city

A zoo in the Indonesian capital Jakarta has been temporarily closed after some exotic birds were found to have contracted avian flu.

The zoo remained open at the weekend but closed on Monday for three weeks.

The latest wave of bird flu has already killed four people in Indonesia, and dozens throughout South East Asia.

The WHO has warned that the virus is continuing to develop, and the possibility of human-to-human transmission remains a real threat.

Officials say 19 birds at the zoo, including peacocks, mynahs, pigmy chickens and eagles, have been infected with avian flu.

Tests will now be carried out on other animals as well as on all 500 employees.

H5N1 BIRD FLU VIRUS

Principally an avian disease, first seen in humans in Hong Kong, 1997
Almost all human cases thought to be contracted from birds
Isolated cases of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong and Vietnam, but none confirmed


The infected birds will be destroyed unless they are protected species, in which case officials say they will be treated with medicine.

The news will add to the growing sense of anxiety in Indonesia about the way the disease is spreading.

Earlier this month a 37-year-old woman became the fourth person in Indonesia to die after contracting the H5N1 strain of the virus.

At least two children, one of them a relative of the woman, are currently being treated in hospital for symptoms consistent with bird flu.

Samples of their blood have been sent to a specialist laboratory in Hong Kong for further investigation.

*************
This bird flu is going to cull this planets population by 1 billion, if we dont wake up to it, the 3rd world is were its all happening, the way they keep there poultry, and animals on farms has got to change, they have to be given financial aid to improve there methods, are else once this thing mutates & learns to jump, more easily to humans, we are all *ucked, we face a prospect here of all bird life, and animal life being infected with bird flu, unless we start taking massive steps to stop the spread of it.

>> This bird flu is going to cull this planets population by 1 billion >>

Maybe not this one, but some virus will emerge

It is inevitable, especially with the lack of fresh water the world is experiencing.

...the 3rd world is were its all happening, the way they keep there poultry, .... unless we start taking massive steps to stop the spread of it.

So is this another case of the western nations of the world, perceiving a possible threat, should step in and force third world countries to do as we say or else?

Can you prove that this situation is really a threat to the western world? Could you stand before the UN and give a convincing speech to that effect? And what if the UN members refused to acknowledge the threat? ...or to do anything about it?

Baron Max

So is this another case of the western nations of the world, perceiving a possible threat, should step in and force third world countries to do as we say or else?

Can you prove that this situation is really a threat to the western world? Could you stand before the UN and give a convincing speech to that effect? And what if the UN members refused to acknowledge the threat? ...or to do anything about it?

Baron Max

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/19/content_3513421.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2005-09-19 20:42:58

MANILA, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- World Health Organization Regional Director for the Western Pacific Shigeru Omi Monday called for health ministers and representatives to launch an all-out war on avian influenza (bird flu) and warned of new emerging diseases, according to a WHO news release reached here from Noumea, New Caledonia.

While we still have a window of opportunity, we must do everything we can to avert an influenza pandemic as we simultaneously prepare for a worse-case scenario," Omi said in hisaddress to the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, WHO's governing body in the Region, which is holding its 56th session.

The avian influenza A (H5N1) virus, first detected in the Republic of Korea in December 2003, has now affected 11 countries,including Kazakhstan and Russia. Some of the countries affected donot have the resources to fully address the problems of prevention,surveillance, detection and outbreak control, Omi said.

***********

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_01_15/en/

Why H5N1 is of particular concern

Of the 15 avian influenza virus subtypes, H5N1 is of particular concern for several reasons. H5N1 mutates rapidly and has a documented propensity to acquire genes from viruses infecting other animal species. Its ability to cause severe disease in humans has now been documented on two occasions. In addition, laboratory studies have demonstrated that isolates from this virus have a high pathogenicity and can cause severe disease in humans. Birds that survive infection excrete virus for at least 10 days, orally and in faeces, thus facilitating further spread at live poultry markets and by migratory birds.
********
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/11/25/birdflu.warning/

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The World Health Organization has issued a dramatic warning that bird flu will trigger an international pandemic that could kill up to seven million people.

The influenza pandemic could occur anywhere from next week to the coming years, WHO said.

"There is no doubt there will be another pandemic," Klaus Stohr of the WHO Global Influenza Program said on the sidelines of a regional bird flu meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

"Even with the best case scenario, the most optimistic scenario, the pandemic will cause a public health emergency with estimates which will put the number of deaths in the range of two and seven million," he said.

"The number of people affected will go beyond billions because between 25 percent and 30 percent will fall ill."

******

World Health Organization says, The number of people affected will go beyond billions,
baron i do not have to make a case, the World Health Organization is making a powerful case on its own, and i am sure they know more about this, than world leaders, after all they are better qualified.

It seems our governments are all stockpiling, vacinations to bird flu, but not dealing with the source of the problem, maybe we are all seen as collateral
damage here, even thailand is stockpiling vacinations, but by the time this virus mutates again, all these vacinations will have no affect.

Instead of the world playing oil games every day, and pissing all the world wealth on oil, maybe we should invest in upgrading, indonesias, thailands, cambodias,vietnams, farming systems, so poultry and animals, are not pissing in the same pot as they are.

It seems our governments are all stockpiling, vacinations to bird flu, but not dealing with the source of the problem, ...

So, yeah! Are you suggesting or advocating a pre-emptive strike or something? We should go into those nations and force them to do things the western way or else?

Baron Max

What's with all the crazy diseases going on in southeast Asia these past couple years? Are some of China's biological experiements getting loose or something?

Heh, and who's heard about our little incident awhile back?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2005-09-15-mice-plague_x.htm

Mice infected with bubonic plague missing
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Three mice infected with the bacteria responsible for bubonic plague apparently disappeared from a laboratory about two weeks ago, and authorities launched a search though health experts said there was scant public risk.

The mice went unaccounted-for at the Public Health Research Institute, which is on the campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government.

Federal official said the mice may never be accounted for. Among other things, the rodents may have been stolen, eaten by other lab animals or just misplaced in a paperwork error.

If the mice got outside the lab, they would have already died from the disease, state Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said.

The possibility of theft prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct lie detector tests, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Thursday.

The FBI said it was investigating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating, the newspaper reported.

University officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday morning.

The mice were injected as part of an inoculation and vaccination experiment, investigators said.

Health officials say 10 to 20 people in the United States contract plague each year, usually through infected fleas or rodents. It can be treated with antibiotics, but about one in seven U.S. cases is fatal. Bubonic plague is not contagious, but left untreated it can transform into pneumonic plague, which can be spread from person to person.

The incident came as federal authorities investigate possible corruption in the school's finances. The FBI is reviewing political donations and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts awarded to politically connected firms.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Screw a nuclear bomb going off in a couple major cities, I'm worried about biological espionage more than anything.

- N

It's believed H5N1 is just a natural variant of flu. As soon as it can make the jump from human to human (it's already amde the jump from bird to human), we'll probably have a major epidemic. If this thing goes global, you can bet that prominent members here at Sci will die. It'll be kind of weird, what with all the corpses and death, you know?

If this does go global, it's China's fault, and every nation of the world should respond with ICBMs. We should nuke China into glowing green glass in retaliation. Goddamn chinks.

China has often been a source of plagues and diseases (nothing personal). There's alot of people there living in close proximity to animals. There are alot of wild animals caught and slaughtered there, too, bringing in exotic germs, also, little medical attention, and a tendancy for the gov to downplay any problems.

It'll be like that movie "12 Monkeys".

So, yeah! Are you suggesting or advocating a pre-emptive strike or something? We should go into those nations and force them to do things the western way or else?

Baron Max
Baron if you offer financial aid to 3rd world countries, to upgrade there farm systems, they will take your hand off, and say thanks, you dont have to invade a country to offer help to a country,
"pre-emptive strike"
This is not iraq here, its 3rd world countries, piss poor, who would welcome financial aid.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/health/19flu.html

Richer Nations Seek Protection From Bird Flu



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By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: September 19, 2005

International Herald Tribune

ROME, Sept. 18 - As World Health Organization officials repeat warnings about the potential for a deadly bird flu pandemic, wealthier countries are redoubling efforts to buy an experimental vaccine and antiviral drugs in the hopes of protecting their citizens from infection.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, President Bush proposed an "international partnership" to combat the disease, and the United States announced last week that it had placed orders for $100 million worth of a promising but technically unlicensed vaccine that is under development by the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis.

"We cannot afford to face the pandemic unprepared," Lee Jong Wook, the director of the World Health Organization, said Thursday at the United Nations.

Roche Pharmaceuticals was struggling to fill huge recent orders from 30 countries for antiviral drugs, placed as part of disaster planning, said Martina Rupp, a spokeswoman for the company. Those countries include Australia, France, England, Singapore and South Korea.

"We have learned in the past weeks that bad things can happen very fast," said Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, as he explained the need for the new partnership to fight bird flu.

Specialists say planning for the possibility of a worldwide pandemic is difficult because the vaccines are novel and the drugs have not been used in this capacity before.

But as countries spend tens of millions of dollars to prepare for bird flu, they are investing in uncertain and untested strategies, WHO officials acknowledge.

The basic problem is that the A(H5N1) virus has not changed in a way that would allow for widespread human infection. What is more, health officials said they would not know precisely how to combat the virus until after it mutated, when they would be able to study its composition and how deadly it was.

...its 3rd world countries, piss poor, who would welcome financial aid.

I would welcome some financial aid, too!

Should we aid our own citizens first, or send all that money to other nations??? Check out how many poor, underprivileged people there are in the USA, then try to convince me to help other nations first.

Baron Max

I would welcome some financial aid, too!

Should we aid our own citizens first, or send all that money to other nations??? Check out how many poor, underprivileged people there are in the USA, then try to convince me to help other nations first.

Baron Max

Baron i think 3rd world relief is a joke, it all winds up in swiss bank accounts.

The relief i am referring, is a complete overhaul, of how asia keeps its poultry, and animals, there is only 5 or 6 countries, who need this in asia, and if we dont, the world healt organisation, is forecasting over a billion humans infected, with bird flu.

So what is the point, of giving financial aid to you, or other poor americans, you or them, are not a bird flu time bomb.

If this is a money issue, well there is going to be alot of new jobs, for everbody especially undertakers.

The relief i am referring, is a complete overhaul, of how asia keeps its poultry, and animals, ...

You say that, then you say: "i think 3rd world relief is a joke, it all winds up in swiss bank accounts."

So how are you proposing this "overhaul" without the money ending up in a private Swiss bank account? You've made those two statements that are quite contradictory ...how do you explain that?

...the world healt organisation, is forecasting over a billion humans infected, with bird flu.

Is this something like "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"??? Do you know how many recent "scare tactics" have been used over the past couple of decades? And of all of them, how many have come true?

Baron Max

The relief i am referring, is a complete overhaul, of how asia keeps its poultry, and animals, there is only 5 or 6 countries, who need this in asia, and if we dont, the world healt organisation, is forecasting over a billion humans infected, with bird flu.

Errrmm have you seen how Western countries keep their animals and in particular their poultry? Have you failed to notice the amount of protests over how chickens are kept so that we in the West can enjoy our eggs in the morning? We are hardly the ones to point the finger when we aren't any better.

You say that, then you say: "i think 3rd world relief is a joke, it all winds up in swiss bank accounts."

So how are you proposing this "overhaul" without the money ending up in a private Swiss bank account? You've made those two statements that are quite contradictory ...how do you explain that?



Is this something like "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"??? Do you know how many recent "scare tactics" have been used over the past couple of decades? And of all of them, how many have come true?

Baron Max
Well baron this is how you do it, you take health inspectors, you take farm systems specialists, you transfer the money to the "WHO" bank account, in the country you are working in.
You start designing, and upgrading there existing poultry and animal systems, like they have in the uk or holland, you use local labour, local materials, when possible.

Bird flu is not sars, your survival rate with bird flu, is very low compared to sars.

baron i am sure you are aware of viruses, 1 guy has one at work, next thing you no the whole factory has it.

30 governments are stockpiling medicine against it, this is not a fantasy, its going to happen very very soon.

This thing is not going a way, sars pissed off, bird flu is not going to, it is speading like wildfire, thanks to our bird friends, it has already made the jump from human to human, now the WHO is waiting for it to mutate again, so it can make the jump from human to human more easily.

Well baron this is how you do it, you take health inspectors, you take farm systems specialists, you transfer the money to the "WHO" bank account, in the country you are working in.
You start designing, and upgrading there existing poultry and animal systems, like they have in the uk or holland, you use local labour, local materials, when possible.

So you're suggesting that we start telling any and all nations of the world the right way of doing things AND paying for it all with western money? And the third world nation will just stand back and let us do it? And who maintains it all? Who inspects it to be sure that it remains that way?

Is there anything else that you might like to tell them what and how to do things and pay for it all? And what if they don't like it? Should we invade them and force them?

Vince, yer' heart might be in the right place, but your not thinking too clearly on the issues of the rights of nations to live their own lives.

Baron Max

Bells,
Errrmm have you seen how Western countries keep their animals and in particular their poultry? Have you failed to notice the amount of protests over how chickens are kept so that we in the West can enjoy our eggs in the morning? We are hardly the ones to point the finger when we aren't any better.

These are people like Doctor Lou complaining over animal rights abuses. The protest is because we have a factory style system of raising poultry. In third world country, people are literally living with their livestock. That's why China is the source of so many diseases- a billion people living real close to a billion animals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4266654.stm

Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 07:26 GMT 08:26 UK


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Indonesia fears bird flu epidemic



Indonesia is vaccinating some poultry against the disease

Indonesia could soon face a bird flu epidemic, the health minister has warned, after the death of a young girl suspected of having the disease.

The girl showed symptoms associated with bird flu, though final tests have yet to confirm the cause of her death.

At least four people are known to have died from the disease in Indonesia, and many flocks of poultry are infected.

Indonesia has detailed drastic steps to check the disease, amid reports of panic spreading among some people.

Chicken and duck sales have plummeted, despite efforts by breeders to reassure customers.

"Only a few people bought my free-range chickens today, although I tried to convince everybody that they are all healthy," a trader in East Java told The Jakarta Post newspaper.

'Not yet an epidemic'

Health Minister Siti Fadila Supari said Indonesia had so far only seen sporadic cases of the disease.

But she warned that "if things worsen it could become an epidemic", the Associated Press news agency reports.

According to the agency, the minister retracted earlier remarks in which she said Indonesia was already in the grip of a bird flu epidemic.

H5N1 BIRD FLU VIRUS

Principally an avian disease, first seen in humans in Hong Kong, 1997
Almost all human cases thought to be contracted from birds
Isolated cases of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong and Vietnam, but none confirmed


"This could be called... an epidemic," Ms Supari said earlier. "It will likely claim more victims because the source is not clear."

At least five other people suspected of having the disease are receiving treatment at a Jakarta hospital, Ms Supari said.

Tests have yet to confirm how a five-year-old Indonesian girl being treated for bird-flu symptoms died on Wednesday.

"The symptoms were heavy pneumonia, the same as bird flu symptoms," a hospital official told the Reuters news agency.

"Her family confirmed to us that she had contact with dead chickens," he said.

'Insufficient funds'

The latest wave of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has already killed dozens of people throughout South East Asia.

Millions of birds have been culled in the region in an effort to stem the crisis, although at the moment Indonesia continues to favour vaccination as a way to combat the disease.

Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono has said there is not enough money to carry out the mass culls recommended by the World Health Organization .

But on Wednesday, he said that mass culls would now be ordered in any areas declared highly infected.


The WHO has warned that the virus is continuing to develop, and the possibility of human-to-human transmission remains a real threat.

Indonesian authorities have been given the right to force people suspected of having the disease into hospital, under a series of extraordinary, temporary measures introduced by the government.

Forty-four state hospitals have also been designated centres for the treatment of bird flu.

More than $15bn has been allocated to tackle the spread of the virus, though government ministers acknowledge that this figure is unlikely to be sufficient.
**********

This is getting very serious, i think its making the jump to humans, more easily now, if a girl can get it from a zoo visit.

$15bn has been allocated to tackle the spread of the virus in indonesia, christ if the indonesians are thinking, about spending that much on it, forget about hurricanes, and get out now and buy a dust mask, you are going to need it, i think before the year is out.

I am buying a dust mask today, i live in thailand the frontline, and still here, humans and poultry, are still living together, christ i could go out, and buy a monkey tommorow, if i want, these monkeys and birds, are sold at bangkok market, they are tiny monkeys.

GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!
OR GET MEASURED, BY YOUR UNDERTAKER, FOR A PINE BOX.!!!!!!!!!!

GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!GET YOURSELF A DUST MASK NOW!!!!!!!

GO NOW IN THE NAME OF YOUR GOD, THERE IS NOT A MOMENT TO LOOSE!!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!

Baron Max

remember SARS? a similar situation, except that the west didn't have 2+ years to bitch and moan about the inevitible pandemic. SARS was a major problem in china and southeast asia, but rapture was never visited upon the west.

so why not? because throughout most of this continent, at least, when we get sick, we go to the doctor, not lie in our homes with our HUGE families ignorantly waiting on us, wailing in the streets when we die. most of us don't raise poultry in our yards in squallor. even our agribusiness is sterilized and mechanized.

even if avian flu turns out to be the prediction that finally comes true, probably less than one one thousandth of the deaths will be in north america. and since most of asia doesn't seem to give a shit if 1% of their population dies, i guess i don't either.

remember SARS? a similar situation, except that the west didn't have 2+ years to bitch and moan about the inevitible pandemic. SARS was a major problem in china and southeast asia, but rapture was never visited upon the west.


Sars
if you go off statistics, you had a 66% chance of surviving sars, you have a 12% chance of surviving bird flu.

So comparing sars to the bird flu, is like comparing a crocodile, to a frog.

In indonesia now over a 100 hospitals are being prepared, for a possible epidemic, asia is a joke i live here, you can be walking the street next to a elephant, animals and birds here, are far to close to humans, hence all these viruses, coming from asia every year.

Animals belong in the zoo, or in the wild, not in markets or in back gardens, or on public streets.

sars was only being spead by humans, luckily we contained it, but bird flu is being sread by birds and animals, so the danger to all of us is massive, birds unlike humans, do not pass through heat sensors at airports, like we do so customs can spot someone with a fever, as they did with sars.

birds are flying thousands of miles with this disease, we all at risk, sars was a over blown joke, bird flu is infecting every thing that moves, cats, birds, tigers, and humans are slowly becoming the main course, its had a few human snacks already, as soon as it gets the taste for us, its goodbye.

>> This bird flu is going to cull this planets population by 1 billion >>

The expected death toll is 200 million. 50 000 in the UK.

remember SARS? a similar situation, except that the west didn't have 2+ years to bitch and moan about the inevitible pandemic. SARS was a major problem in china and southeast asia, but rapture was never visited upon the west.....

We are just lucky it didn't mutate. You know the Black Plague also came out of China. It's not so much the flu's themselves we need to worry about, but the possibility of bird flu and SARS mutating into something that infects humans easily, like it spreads through the air. We are also lucky that asian countries took SARS seriously, but their efforts haven't always been perfect. If these new diseases mutate and come here, it won't make any difference wether we raise poultry in our backyards or not.

The expected death toll is 200 million. 50 000 in the UK.
the who
is saying billions are going to be infected by it, now the current survival rate is running at 12%.

What I heard from the WHO's report in Nature was 200 million world wide, that was in last months issue.

What I heard from the WHO's report in Nature was 200 million world wide, that was in last months issue.
well if you back to the start of the thread, you will see a news report saying that "who" is expecting billions to be affected by it.

But not killed.

But not killed.

We are all going to die, you included, or you first, unless you listen to me, and get a damn dust mask, i bought mine today.

Dont sit on the toilet thinking about it, get off your big fat ass, and go to the hardware store for a dust mask.

Then build a bird flu nuclear shelter, stock up with 2 years of food, by which time, the entire worlds population will be dead, including dubba who is only brain dead now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4269310.stm

Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 17:39 GMT 18:39 UK


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Chickens slaughtered in test cull



10,000 chickens were gassed in a test cull

Nearly 10,000 chickens have been slaughtered as part of contingency plans to deal with any bird flu outbreak in Northern Ireland.

Veterinary experts preparing for the potentially fatal disease used gas to destroy poultry in Moy, County Tyrone.

Officials stressed there was no fear of infection in the birds, who were no longer to be used for laying eggs.

*******
Well irelands jumping the gun here, they are doing trial chicken culls, animal rights activists, must be going crazy.
What a irish joke, they kill 10,000 chickens for a test.

SARS and bird flu are tests of just how stupid we can get. We are exceeding all expectations. This bullshit isn't worth anything but cheap shots.

We need to tunnel out of here, under ground cities, outposts on the moon, or mars, we need, i need, to get out of here, the world is closing in on me.

We need to act like we have at least the brains that God gave a hamster. For crying out loud, 4 deaths in Indonesia? Indonesia has so many people it's standing room only. In one lousy nursing home in the middle of Kansas you can expect one death during the flu season.

We weren't intelligent enough to put the SARS deaths under a magnifying glass, even if all of the information was freely available to anyone who looked for it. The original population of "SARS" victims were people who were exposed to fumes from bad plumbing. This stuff kills people even without causing infection. Then the doctors treated these victims with 200 milligram doses of Prednisone, which was enough to destroy their immune systems and leave them open to a really nice nasty, candidas albicans, and another one, pneumocystitis carinii. Nice work, idiots.

Bird flu and SARS are non-epidemics that both started as hoaxes by the government of the People's Republic of China. Remember them? They murdered off their intellectuals. They closed their borders to us and we in turn banned travel to their country. We played war games with them in Korea and Korea lost. Had these people not murdered off their intellectuals they would have become a greater threat to us in the Soviet Union. They still murder a lot of people. At the beginning of this flap about bird flu, they killed off 4 million birds in Hong Kong, which had recently come back under their control.

Now we are hanging on every word that these Godless commies have to say, and it's tinfoil hat if we don't believe everything that comes from Beijing? Just a few short years ago we were thinking of them as the ultimate evil. Their greed, corruption, disregard for human rights and the environment are public record and are legendary and now we're kissing their asses and wanting to be just like them? What in God's name do we think we're going to get out of that? Or are we kissing their asses to prevent them from setting off a cobalt warhead and erasing life on Earth?

People talk about me being gullible, but when we believe in an epidemic that is this poorly constructed, even without considering the source, we are absolutely god-awful gullible.

Any of you remember that flu epidemic towards the end of WWI?

Cause I surely don't. Let's pretend like nothing is happening.

(Baron Max is something of a fool.)

We should do something about this, even if it is invading another country and turning all their citizens into sterile Soylent Green for starving Africa. Hey, two birds with one stone.

Show me that something is happening. I don't have to pretend when nothing significant is happening other than a public panic over nothing.

We are all going to die, you included, or you first, unless you listen to me, and get a damn dust mask, i bought mine today.

Dont sit on the toilet thinking about it, get off your big fat ass, and go to the hardware store for a dust mask.

Then build a bird flu nuclear shelter, stock up with 2 years of food, by which time, the entire worlds population will be dead, including dubba who is only brain dead now.

I have plenty of dust masks. ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4266654.stm

Last Updated: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 09:22 GMT 10:22 UK


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Indonesia bird flu fears mount



Young children are often the victims, leaving families distraught

At least 13 Indonesians are suspected to be suffering from bird flu, as fears of a major outbreak mounted.

Tests are also being carried out on three children who died this week after they showed symptoms of the disease.

Four Indonesians have been confirmed to have died from the H5N1 strain of the virus, which has already killed dozens of people across Asia.

Indonesian officials urged people not to panic, saying there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Health officials fear that if the virus combines with the human influenza virus, it could become highly infectious and lead to a global flu pandemic.


Misinformation has caused society to panic



Indonesia's Republika paper



Media demands action


According to the BBC correspondent in Jakarta, Rachel Harvey, the increase in the number of suspected cases in Indonesia could be partly due to an increase in public awareness.

There is now saturation coverage of the bird flu outbreak on television, radio and in newspapers, she says.

"With increased surveillance its not unusual that you would pick up more cases," said Dr Margaret Chan, the WHO's representative on bird flu.

New measures

Tests have yet to confirm whether two young girls, aged five and two, died of bird flu in Jakarta on Wednesday.

A five-year-old boy who died in Kalimantan, Borneo, on Thursday also showed symptoms of the disease.

H5N1 BIRD FLU VIRUS

Principally an avian disease, first seen in humans in Hong Kong, 1997
Almost all human cases thought to be contracted from birds
Isolated cases of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong and Vietnam, but none confirmed


Officials say they are still not certain how the three children could have contracted the bird flu virus.
****

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4268556.stm

Every major town has a crowded bird market lined with hundreds of cages, where a top-quality singing dove can sell for the same price as a house.

As in several other Muslims countries, doves occupy a special place of honour in the culture, with streets, companies and even a domestic airline - Merpati - named after them.

The doves are not merely kept for decoration - they are taken out and handled, treated as much-loved pets and taken to vets when they fall ill.
********
Looks like indonesia is going to be the springboard for this virus, to infect the world, they are not culling the birds, as they can not afford to compensate farmers, and it is the most over populated country in this area, they have bird markets on most streets, the birds are much loved pets there.
Its all a recipe for disaster.

At least 13 Indonesians are suspected to be suffering from bird flu, as fears of a major outbreak mounted.

I don't get this! ONLY 13 are SUSPECTED of contracting bird flu, yet there are "fears of a major outbreak"?? It's only 13 people, for god's sake!!

What's the big deal? Is 13 people a cause for us to go into panic mode? Why? Is this the first such "disease" that has ever struck the planet?

Baron Max

I don't get this! ONLY 13 are SUSPECTED of contracting bird flu, yet there are "fears of a major outbreak"?? It's only 13 people, for god's sake!!

What's the big deal? Is 13 people a cause for us to go into panic mode? Why? Is this the first such "disease" that has ever struck the planet?

Baron Max
13 people in a country, that knows about as much about controlling viruses, as i know about nuclear physics.
You better believe the world is worried, when these things happen in canada or the uk, we dont worry because we have the resources to control and stop it, before it becomes a majour problem, the indonesians would have trouble putting down a rabid dog, let alone a majour virus.

This virus needs a foothold, or breathing space to mutate into a virus more easily transmitted to humans, indonesia is going to give it that breathing space, with there lack of knowledge, corruption, and incompetence.