Bird Flu *achoo* [Archive]

Faith

10-23-2005, 01:50 PM

So anyone worried?

I'm not really, I think everyone is over-reacting a little... although it is easy for me to say that, because there are no documented human fatalities here yet, I don't think.

Has it effected any FB members? Anyone worried about it? I mean, it could wipe out the whole of Europe, I guess we should be a little concerned?

Hitchcock was so prophetic! But I for one refuse to let Europe be destroyed by a chicken and a pigeon :lol:

tantucky

10-23-2005, 01:53 PM

I havent even heard of it. Blimey it doesnt sound pleasant at all lol

Kari

10-23-2005, 01:56 PM

:lol: Yeah...Hitchcock...he saw it all coming. Or Aristophanes...

I am not really worried, but then I am one of those ignorant persons who continued eating beef after mad cow disease etc,

christy86

10-23-2005, 02:01 PM

My cousin said only 60people had this years ago, there's nothing to worry about. Just buy organic natural chicken..turkey ect.
With mad cow that is what my family gets for beef.

BTW in Texas we had to kill over 100chickens and turkeys because Pilgrim Pride Chicken said they had the flu...they are careful.

tantucky

10-23-2005, 02:02 PM

Ohh..is this that thing people are talking about like dont eat chickens cuz they have something wrong with them? So you get a flu first..THEN you die. I getcha. Well people shouldnt be eating animals anyway. Go Peta2!! whatwhat!

Faith

10-23-2005, 02:09 PM

I think it was in Greece, wasn't it? I'll try find an article on it, but basically it is a rare kind of flu that comes from birds.

At the moment, a human can catch it from a bird, but cannot pass it onto another human. That is what the main worry is - that the flu is mutating, and that we will soon be able to pass it to one another, and then *atissue* *atissue* we all fall down... :)

Faith

10-23-2005, 02:14 PM

What is avian influenza (bird flu)?
Bird flu is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These flu viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. However, bird flu is very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them.

LONDON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Britain is urging the European Union to ban wild bird imports as bird flu fears escalate following a positive test on a dead parrot.

The parrot was quarantined with other birds that were shipped from South America to Britain. On Friday, scientists said the parrot had the H5 virus and are testing further to determine if it has the deadly H5N1 strain, the London Telegraph reports.

That strain of bird flu, first found in eastern Asia in December 2003, has killed more than 60 people and countless flocks of birds and livestock as it makes its way west. The wild bird imports, especially the smuggled ones, are considered to be a threat to Britain. Public health consultant Clifford Warwick called it the "Trojan Horse of infection for recipient nations."

Aside from the devastation of birds, experts fear the bird flu will mutate into a virus strain humans are more susceptible to, causing a worldwide pandemic

tantucky

10-23-2005, 02:18 PM

Poor birdies :(

Thanks for the info Gem.

Faith

10-23-2005, 02:22 PM

lol there are a tonne more stories, Tania, but I couldn't be bothered trailing through them all :)

Basically, we might all die, we might not, but the government is taking all these procautions, just in case... I might be weird, but I would just feel so defeated if I died because of a bird! I mean, A BIRD?!

Krazy

10-23-2005, 02:29 PM

The bird flu i don't think is that serious yet but obviously if people don't do anything about it the situation could get out of hand. There hasn't been traces of the virus here in the Uk yet thankfully but if people aren't careful what they import then don't be surprised when it starts to kill of people one by one. Okay that was a little melodramatic but the point is that people should be aware of the situation which many aren't. The latest place to be hit by the virus is Romania,hopefully it'll either go away or not come to this side of the continent. :)

Faith

10-23-2005, 02:30 PM

They just found a parrot with it here, but I dont think there have been any human infections in britain yet... we caught the parrot before he got away with it ;)

Krazy

10-23-2005, 02:33 PM

Phew that's good news. At least the goverment here know the seriousness of the situation and they're trying to do something about it. But i think there will proberly more cases of bird flu here in the future so we've still got to be careful.
Where the hell did it even come from?:no:

tantucky

10-23-2005, 03:54 PM

My dad said 60 people in england died.....hmm guess he lied trying to scare me. I dont even like meat.

Faith

10-23-2005, 04:06 PM

I don't know if that was England but I think that many people died in.. Greece? Or Turkey, maybe? My dad just shouted that it was China, lol :ponder:

amberdawn

10-23-2005, 06:38 PM

Im not scared for the US yet. I hope it doesnt become a worldwide catastrophe.

Krazy

10-24-2005, 09:59 AM

I heard that people from China died too, it was a good few months ago though when people first found about the virus.
Hopefully the virus won't effect the whole world,there are enough problems at the moment.

Quinton

10-24-2005, 11:02 PM

Read Stephen King's "The Stand" (or watch the mini-series if you're so inclined) and if you ignore the 'good-vs-evil' storyline and the nature in which the incident occured you'll get a rough idea of what "could" happen.

But then again... SARS, anyone?

EDIT: Not to be a scaremonger or anything but there's a pretty good chance the virus could mutate, become highly infectious and immune to defense. If that becomes the case then it could spread faster than anyone could imagine.

Someone could become infected, fly to another Country and infect everyone he comes into breathing contact with before he even 'starts' to notice symptoms. Multiply that by the amount of world travellers and it becomes pretty frightening pretty fast.

I read somewhere that in it's present form it has a mortality rate of about 75%. :O

christy86

10-25-2005, 12:11 AM

I don't know if that was England but I think that many people died in.. Greece? Or Turkey, maybe? My dad just shouted that it was China, lol :ponder:

Yep, it was in Greece. I just talked to relatives today. They are very scared of eating chickens.

Faith

10-25-2005, 06:45 AM

Oh I'm eating chicken... might stop if there are any more documented cases in Britain though... but again, it seems a bit pointless, you can't walk for tripping over pigeons *shudder* where I live :)

tantucky

10-25-2005, 09:19 AM

Haha Gem speaks the truth it's pidgeons everywhere!!! Also alot of seagulls.

Faith

10-25-2005, 09:39 AM

OMG there were always a tonne of seagulls around my primary school!

WE LIVE NOWHERE NEAR THE SEA!!

I hate them in Bridlington, they always swoop down and steal chips :lol:

Krazy

10-25-2005, 09:48 AM

pidgeons and other sort of birds are everywhere in my town too.
Scarbrough isn't a good place too go,way way to many on the cliffs. :nohope:

Faith

10-25-2005, 09:49 AM

Yeah, but also way way brilliant arcades, hehe :lol:

Too many seagulls there as well though :)

Bird flu... they will get us all!!

Krazy

10-25-2005, 09:58 AM

I suppose the bird flu might be worth it if we catch it after we're done with the arcade machines :lol:
Sadly i dont think i'll look at a bird the same again :nohope:

Faith

10-25-2005, 10:17 AM

I know...

If I died of bird flu, it would be like they had won!

Birds eat my chips at the seaside,
I eat birds,
Birds kill me...

I want to win this battle!

Krazy

10-25-2005, 10:34 AM

Woah are we going to battle with the birdies now?:lol:
But i guess it is kind of like a battle,us against the birds.
I know we all die but dying of Bird flu please no.

Quinton

10-25-2005, 04:11 PM

Umm... there have been no documented cases of people contracting the virus through cooked food.

Do ya'll eat your birds raw? O_o

kbear49

10-25-2005, 05:12 PM

Raw chicken is the BEST! MMMM hahaha

celebfan2005

10-25-2005, 05:35 PM

i just ate chicken oh oh lol

tantucky

10-25-2005, 05:42 PM

^ woah dude.....R.I.P

I love feeding birds its great, weee. I think the birds should win cuz humans suck lol. course that would mean we'd all die. But anything to see the planet run by animals again :lol:

oclover24

10-25-2005, 05:48 PM

I'm kind of getting scared that it's going to come to America. My dad said that he wouldn't let me go to school if the bird flu came here and was spreading rapidly. He was also considering buying some of those paper mask things, but I wouldn't wear one unless everybody else was (I'm very petty :lol: )

celebfan2005

10-25-2005, 06:00 PM

Its like outbreak well not like it butt kinda and its scary

oclover24

10-25-2005, 08:52 PM

^It seems so scary, I agree.

Did anybody watch the fake-documentary 'Smallpox' on FX eariler this year?

Andrew

10-25-2005, 10:49 PM

Raw chicken is the BEST! MMMM hahaha

If you escape the chicken flu, you'll be met with salmonella... fun fun! :cheer:

Omnivores (or carnivores, for that matter) are running out of things to eat...

Beef... mad cow
Chicken... chicken flu

And you can only eat so much pork before clogging up your heart with bacon fat :nono:

Watch in another year or so... something will be wrong with pork... something like "oinkerism" or "3 little pig-syndrome"

(well... actually... now that I think about it, there is something wrong with pork: can you say trichinae?)

Krazy

10-26-2005, 09:31 AM

New is that it's very unlikely to catch the bird flu through food,so keep eating the raw chicken and raw eggs :lol:
2 more cases of the virus have come to England :eek:

Andrew

10-26-2005, 10:01 AM

My old gym teacher once dared me to drink two raw eggs... not fun :no:

christy86

10-26-2005, 12:19 PM

Umm... there have been no documented cases of people contracting the virus through cooked food.

Do ya'll eat your birds raw? O_o

Yeah that is what my cousin told me, lol.

Faith

10-26-2005, 12:20 PM

lol oh my, two more? :)

I knowthat means 3 in total but it's a little freaky!

christy86

10-26-2005, 12:34 PM

My old gym teacher once dared me to drink two raw eggs... not fun :no:

rocky did it! lol

What about pasterized eggs like "egg beaters?"
Safe?

HappyHamster

10-26-2005, 01:51 PM

OKay, I might be completely of base here, but I thought you caught the bird flu from life chickens. That it has nothing to do whether you eat the chicken or not. Sorta like the flu (wait..bird flu :D). Might be wrong though.

Quinton

10-26-2005, 11:49 PM

From what I understand, all documented cases of human transmission have been via live handling of the birds. I saw a picture of a man sucking the phlegm or something from a chicken's nostril during a "cock fight" (just the name of that makes me chuckle).

By the way, I have recently succumbed to flu-like symptoms. Let's not jump to conclusions.

kbear49

10-27-2005, 12:53 AM

My old gym teacher once dared me to drink two raw eggs... not fun :no:

Ehh.. seems we are all going to die from something. I take it your teacher didn't like you? What ever happened to, "drop and give me twenty." :whip:

Scarlet

10-27-2005, 01:22 AM

The bird flu...why did they name it that? We can get it too...not just the birds, lol. And it's like the whole SARS thing again. I was working in a pharmacy when that came out, we sold out of masks in like 10 minutes....think that's gonna happen again?

Aga

10-27-2005, 03:36 AM

well i have just got a flu and hey if its bird flu good on me ill be the first in australia to get it.

See im all for the bird flu.. sure ppl die ppl get sick ppl worry but in the end its just another form of population control... kill off the weak to leave the strong. its the way of nature.

take the plauge 100's of years ago... apparently itwas spread by rats... not really seeingthe black rats dont move very far during the day maybe 100 m ... and the disease was spreading something like 3-6 miles a day... popualtion control ppl. ppl kill people not rats/birds/ cows

they say that most of the 3rd world will die. doesnt suprise me at all.

but we gotta die of something dont we?

Quinton

10-27-2005, 04:54 AM

Children fit somewhere into the 'weaker' category.

Faith

10-27-2005, 07:08 AM

And people with astma...

Krazy

10-27-2005, 10:05 AM

Would a 15 year old be classified as a child? :lol:
If there was to be a population control or whatever it should be with a earthquake that way it's quicker to die, not with some sort of virus eating at your body. :no:
So it's official the only way to catch bird flu is by close contact with birds or maybe someone who has caught it.

Andrew

10-27-2005, 10:18 AM

Ehh.. seems we are all going to die from something. I take it your teacher didn't like you? What ever happened to, "drop and give me twenty." :whip:

Well... isn't that simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. :lol:

And no... a bunch of friends and I were in his office one day afterschool and we were playing "truth or dare" although it was really "dare or dare" because we weren't allowed to pick truth (I know, unfair rule... but oh so fun :up: )

kbear49

10-27-2005, 08:53 PM

Well... isn't that simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. :lol:

And no... a bunch of friends and I were in his office one day afterschool and we were playing "truth or dare" although it was really "dare or dare" because we weren't allowed to pick truth (I know, unfair rule... but oh so fun :up: )

Im talented, I can be pessimistic and optimistic at the same time. :dancing:
that's the best kind.. dare or dare. :naughty:

My friend raises chickens. They are dumb animals, they will beat up on each other for no apparent reason. Ehh wait, sometimes humans do that. :lol:

Faith

10-28-2005, 05:28 AM

:lol:

Well, what can we do? If they get us, then they get us...

I'm going down with a fight :ninja:

HappyHamster

10-28-2005, 06:51 AM

I have an adoption chicken. Somebody gave it to me. I can see it on a webcam although I can't figure out which one is mine between the hundred other ones. I get eggs though. Free range eggs. But since the bird flu that have to stay in their pen. :(

Buffy_Summers

11-29-2005, 02:37 PM

torypops

01-14-2006, 09:12 AM

I just read on the BBC news website that a man in Belgium is being tested for bird flu after returning from a visit to Turkey recently. There seems to be some concern over the current outbreak in Turkey and I can remember Turkish officials reportedly stating that it is fine to still visit there for holidays etc. I dunno it kinda makes you worry! I live in the UK and it seems to be getting closer and closer:ponder:

*gwen*~*grover*

01-14-2006, 12:28 PM

oh... i havent heard anything about it in the longest time... hmm, hope it doesnt resurface...
yeah, i havent really worried about it (mainly thinking about how nothing happened with SARS...)... im not going to worry... and if it hits, well, i wont be lax about it then,,,

Andrew

01-14-2006, 12:31 PM

heh... Turkey --> Bird Flu

:lol:

*gwen*~*grover*

01-14-2006, 12:41 PM

haha. i didnt event think of that :lol:
that made me laugh out loud...

torypops

01-14-2006, 04:53 PM

It seems the guy with suspected bird flu in Belgium has been given the all clear so good news me thinks.
We will all need to start worrying though if/when it mutates and can be passed from human to human. Let's hope that never happens.

*gwen*~*grover*

01-14-2006, 06:02 PM

yeah... but until that happends......
maybe thats me being naive, but oh well..

Quinton

01-14-2006, 07:07 PM

Andrew

01-14-2006, 10:45 PM

The only way it'll affect humans is if the regular flu and the bird flu mutate together synergistically, forming an all new virus, causing an epidemic.

The cases are so far small in quantity, but I see your point in "the possibility of it happening is rising everyday"

However, a simple flu shot can stop the possibility of mutation; Prevent the regular flu, and the bird flu can't mutate with anything.

On the other hand, not everybody is doing this, whether it be by choice or them being allergic to the immunization. These people should practice being more cautious.

But again... the chance of somebody actually catching the bird flu is still pretty slim. That is unless you're living on an actual chicken farm.

torypops

01-15-2006, 03:42 AM

At the moment if you handle sick chickens, sleep near to them or play around them you run the risk of catching bird flu.
The virus hasn't yet mutated in to a form that can be passed between human and human. Having a regular flu jab now would give you no protection against a mutated bird flu because it's a different virus. Here in the UK, there has been a rush of people doing this and has caused a shortgage of the vaccine for the people who need it. Experts have been telling us that the current flu jab offers no protection and there is no need or point in people who would not otherwise have had the jab rushing off to get it now.
If the day comes when the virus mutates we would need a flu jab that works against that exact virus to be made as quickly as possible and then we would have some protection against it.
Hopefully though, that day will never come!
We don't need to worry now, we just need to be aware of what's going on.

*gwen*~*grover*

01-15-2006, 12:53 PM

We don't need to worry now, we just need to be aware of what's going on.
thats a very good philosophy :bgrin: i agree

makes me glad that i live in nyc... as far as i know, no chicken farms near by... i know they sell some live ones uptown... but i havent been near them in a while :lol:

Andrea

01-15-2006, 06:33 PM

Flippin hell, I wish the government would get over this bird flu crap. Think about it, what they are saying really is 'this is a virus amongst birds and because it shares some aspects with the flu that killed loads of people after the war (which is only the fact that it's flu), we'll get everyone really worried about it despite the fact it's a bird virus that only 60 humans on the entire planet have got (and only have it because they were in constant contact with birds) and it's not even contageous between humans. Believe me, there is nothing to worry about. The time to panic is when everyone on the planet is suddenly in constant contact with birds or if the virus suddenly decides to change the way it works so it spreads amongst humans.
I think this is exactly right!!!

I am certainly NOT one to be overconfident in our government's ability to protect us against such things and I think some precautions are good, but the reality is, there's a reason there hasn't been a pandemic in 100 years. Even factoring in things like international flights and imports, these things take time to spread over large populations. By the time they hit even a small population, thanks to the Internet, everyone will know, and be able to take steps to keep themselves and their families safe.

I've read an analysis of why the Internet, specifically, the blogosphere, makes the events of the flu in The Stand wayyyyyy less possible. There are ways to avoid getting a flu, and once the host is dead, after a specific period of time, you can't get it from the dead person. I.e., say everyone in your neighborhood was dying of Avian flu. It takes, what, 2 or 3 days to kill people? If you simply didn't leave your home, locked all your doors, and duct-taped any and all openings to the outside, then *even if it was airborn*, you'd be fine. What's more, the chances are good that you won't be the only one doing this, thanks to mass communications.

Here is a link analyzing the situation in plain English and giving practical tips that are good practices anyway, regardless of any impending epidemic. I found it very helpful and empowering. =)

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/donaldr.may/2006/01/15/182441.html