Avian Flu

Question: What will you do to avoid infection when the H5N1 avian flu virus causes a pandemic? There have been some cases of the H5N1 avian flu virus being passed from person to person in Indonesia and Turkey. Scientists say it is a matter of when - not if - it becomes a pandemic. No one would have any immunity to the virus. What will you do to avoid infection?

Answer: Avoid other people at all costs. Keep us all at home.

Question: What will you do to be prepared for the avian flu in the USA? I research the avian flu regularly. It has mutated recently and did pass from a 13 year old to his father. However, the mutation died when the father died. Wild birds and domesticated birds have been found with it across Asia, Africa and some of Europe. Seems to me to be on the way here.

Answer: My department just recieved special funding from the Department of Homeland Security for more hazmat/biochemical suits and equipment. we are also being trained to handle a major epidemic when(not if) it hits. Still seems like it's a couple months away. We also had a mass casualty training exercise in our community to plan a response to the bird flu.

Question: I heard that avian flu stuff is a srategy aimed at destroyin poultry in some countries.How geniune is this? Some countries banned importation of frozen foods and fowls from europe and america.If they destroy local fowl they will be compelled to lift he bann. According to statistics, avian flu have killed only 15 people. Compared to malaria and some dieseases 15 is too low. We think avian flu stuff is only made up. Dont you think so?

Answer: This is a crock of $%#&. No country wants to destroy their own economy and have to rely on importing food. In any case, avian flu seems to have reached europe now. The reason such a big deal is being made when deaths are so low is that the virus (which is already known to be in two different forms) has the potential to modify itself and become the next human pandemic (which Malaria will never do). The last flu pandemic in 1918 killed more people than the first world war -- it is estimated to have killed between 20 & 40 million people.

Question: Can nutrition assist in immunity of the avian flu? I live in Alaska and the Avian flu has been a major concern. Epidemics will be more frequent along with natural disasters. I have no health insurance and my first line of defense is what I eat. I am learning about indoor gardening. If anyone can suggest vegetable to grow I would appreciate it.

Answer: ok as said before its very unlikely u catch it... I lived a large amount of time worried bout it making research etc and found that it is scary but you wont get it so easily. Now, about the nutrition, there is no way to prevent infections though u can give strengh to ur body by eating good. If you have a strong immune system it is more likely to beat illness like the flu. I read you can actually beat avian flu when it is not a so bad case, so well wether or not it helps, eat well so you will prevent other stuff going on.

Question: Did the influenza virus mix with the avian flu to create SARS? Did the influenza virus mix with the avian flu to create SARS?

Answer: No. Why do you think that? SARS is caused by a coronavirus. Totally different family of viruses.

Question: Is this "swine" flu that is currently circulating a combination of avian flu as well? And if so does this prove any dangers. What type of problems have this avian (bird) flu caused in the past? Were there a great number of fatalities due to the avian flu and if so is it just because of the lack of decent medical care of is this something very serious and hard to contain or control?

Answer: This virus was called swine flu because many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. However, latest study has shown that this new virus (influenza A H1N1) has avian genes, human genes and two genes from flu viruses that usually occur in pigs in Europe and Asia. Scientists call this a “quadruple reassortant” virus. Regular flu kills 36,000 people a year in the United States and estimated 375,000 worldwide, About 90 percent of those deaths are among people older than 65 who already have health problems and cause their underlying disease to decompensate and then they don't have the reserves to fight the regular virus. Peoples are worried about the new swine flu outbreak because many of those who died in Mexico have been young and otherwise healthy individual.

Question: How likely is the avian flu to spread in 2007? Last year there was a lot of discussion on the avian flu. I personally thought it would have been so widespread that we would have been walking around with facemasks. Is this going to be the case in 2007? Serious answers only please...

Answer: Possibly as likely as last year, but there still isn't much cause for people to worry. The avian flu as we know it is transferred from bird to human, but has never been transferred from human to human, meaning a person can't get it from a bird and transfer it to 10 other people. The concern is, though, that at some future date, the virus will mutate so it WILL be spread from person to person. That has not yet happened. Meanwhile, with drugs like Tamiflu the effect of bird flu can be lessened, and there is only a 50 percent (roughly) fatality rate. So hopefully there is still time for technology to catch up! Bottom line, I don't think anyone can predict how the virus will spread this year, but it does seem that we're hearing less and less about it. Maybe that's a good sign.

Question: What happened with the Avian flu epidemic scare? Remember how the media was reporting about the possibility of an Avian flu (more commonly known as Bird flu) epidemic spreading worldwide? Well, what happened? I was thinking about this yesterday and recall all the newspaper and magazine articles talking about it last year.

Answer: Media has stopped writing about it. That's the only thing that has changed.

Question: How quickly will the Avian flu mutate? I have a gut feeling this version of the avian flu was released purposely to reduce worldwide populations. Anyone else? "People cannot get the swine flu from eating pork or pork products, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And health officials say there is no evidence the flu originated from hogs. The new flu strain is a mix of genetic material from swine, avian and human flu viruses."

Answer: Thank you Fortune Minus 500. PEOPLE THINK WITH YOUR BRAIN!! While it is sad that people are dieing, it is another form of the flu. Be cautious and seek medical attention if you get flu like symptoms. Enough with Zombies and Conspiracy theroys and the "end of the human race" This is all so over the top. Quit buying into and eating up every word the media is saying.

Question: If you have had avian flu, are you more resistant to swine flu? If some has avian flu, and is able to fight it off, will there be any 'cross protection' against swine flu? If the body does remember how to fight it, does it only remember for a certain period of time? Is the current swine flu not a mix four Inflnenzas? Including human, swine and bird flu?

Answer: Yes, the current swine flu virus is a reassortment of those three types. But there are different strains of avian flu. The avian flu genes in swine flu is a completely different strain. therefore, the answer to your question is no.

Question: What are multi-national, particularly Fortune 500 companies, doing to prepare for a avian flu pandemic? Not in a general sense, but very specifically... How prepared is Citigroup in the event of an avian flu pandemic in regards to business continuity, IT, medical and other policies?

Answer: I know that after 9/11, Citigroup was part of a larger group of financial leaders and financial agencies (like the SEC) that spent a lot of time on business continuity and financial market continuity in the event of a disaster. I know I saw some reports at some point regarding this but I don't remember where right now. Generally, as being part of this group, I would expect that they are better prepared than most - atleast on the business and market continuity side.

Question: Should the UK government keep their tammiflu doses in case avian flu arrives rather than on the tame swine flu? They seem to be reacting very strongly against the pig flu when in fact an avian flu, which has been thought a quite possible development, would likely be far worse. @David H - That sound important - that they have a short shelf-life. I hope the government and NHS have a stock maintainance strategy. I suppose they need to maintain a stockpile in case avian flu develops, even if they use 20% ongoing to deal with lesser influenzas.

Answer: The anti-viral, Tamiflu, expires after four years. Perhaps they bought it years ago. Tamiflu, by the way, is a medication that was rammed through the FDA by Donald (The Secretary-of-Defense-War-Criminal) Rumsfeld back in the early 90's. Guess who's making a killing with the hype over the recent flu which isn't any worse than the run-of-the-mill flus we've experienced over the last 20-30 years??

Question: Anyone hear of a bar headed goose in Michigan, do they carry avian flu? Recently sighted a bar headed goose in coldwater, Michigan. I researched to find out what it was and pull up several sites about it carrying AVIAN FLU. Have you hear of this bird in Michigan before?. The coordinates of the sighting is Latitude: N41° 55.936' Longitude: W84° 59.596' on the Sauk River. Thanks.

Answer: Bar-headed Goose is often kept as an exotic pet in North America. A bird found in Michigan is almost certainly an escapee. It has been found in Michigan before and under similar circumstances. The Avian flu strain currently reported in the news is most often associated with domesticated waterfowl in Asia and feeds that contain feathers and droppings of domestic birds from this region.

Question: How do I deal with the idea that 4 to 5 BILLION people will die in my lifetime resulting from Avian Flu?? The consensus of scientist at the CDC and WHO state that the Avian Flu Pandemic is going to happen, it's not a question of IF it will happen, but WHEN. Over 2/3rds of the population will get this virus, and the H5N1 virus strain is much more lethal than even the bubonic plague! The virus will spread faster because of global warming and will swiftly cripple total populations of countries. Even the Pentagon is developing strategies to counter the effects of this crisis! So why is this crisis being ignored? The consensus says it's going to happen, so that means it's inevitable! Even if they said this back in 2001, it still could happen any day now......

Answer: This should make all the global warming people happy. By removing 4-5 billion people from the earth, CO2 emissions will drop.

Question: What is the company who developed Silver Titanium Dioxide nanotechnology to reduce Avian Flu virus load ? It apply to treat the common surfaces inside its trains to reduce the Avian Flu virus and risks of corss contamination

Answer: i think it was the mtr corperation, or at least they are the ones responcible for intigrating it into daily life

Question: what has the government in third world countries done to stop the avian flu virus from spreading? what has the government in third world countries done to stop the avian flu virus from spreading, if there is any please provide proof.

Answer: There has been a fairly large outbreak of avian flu in Egypt. Mostly women have caught it because it is common for them to keep chickens at home to supplement income. When one of their chickens shows signs of illness, they take them inside, sometimes putting them under their bed to hide them because if the government finds out about sick birds, they will kill them all and the woman will have lost her livelihood. Typically, the woman gets sick, doesn't tell anyone until it is too late. The government has forced closure of bird markets (where people buy their chickens, turkey etc) so now mostly only frozen imported chicken (frequently from Brazil) is available. The govt does what it can.