What about the Bird Flu?
 

Hey kids what's going on with the Bird Flu that we've heard so much about?
WHO has urged all countries to come up with plans for tackling a pandemic of bird flu, but U.S. efforts stalled on Thursday when Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives refused to approve funding for Bush's $7.1 billion plan.
Oops, can't blame this one on the Dems huh?

I don't know, it's ALWAYS something. I still think alot of this always gets blown up bigger then it is, like a slow news day or something.

Seems to me though, the last few decades we've had all sorts of new strains of virus, and everything else you can think of.

Good grief, if it scares you so bad, get off your ass and go do something about it yourself.

Bot

It IS bigger than it is. The difference betwwen the countries with the outbreaks and here are the growing conditions of the birds. There ain't nothing like what goes on in China here. Chickens here are essentially sealed off from the rest of the world, grown in very stringent ways, in order to make automated machinery kill and cut up the anamal. All birds need to be dimensionally identical to go through the machines. This can not be accomplished if grown as in China, VietNam, etc.
The conditions in the chicken houses aren't exactly pretty anywhere, but in the USA, they are relatively clean, everybody is wearing ppe, the coops are cleaned regularly, etc.
The chickens in coops here are not exposed to migratory birds in the coop. The only way to pass H5n1 from bird to bird is direct contact with each other or with each others fecal matter.
Taken those facts, would you vote to spend the money? Not me.

In other news the cat industry in Chia is booming.

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gfursi...s/humor027.jpg

Yeah, get off your fat ass and start brewing up some vaccine in your kitchen.

Curse the darkness! That stuff is somebody's fault and I'm gonna make sure they catch the blame for it!

B

PS I did a bit of research on this. As usual, it is more complicated than the original post indicates. Anybody care to guess why it didn't pass the House?

Something to do with oil?

Before we find a vaccine we must find out who is to blame....first and foremost. FEMA should be on it.

LOL...
I'm a vegetarian for 10+ years and calling the chicken factories in the USA sanitary is totally wrong....Compared to China or VietNam maybe; but I remember the weekend I stopped eating meat and chicken there was a story /expose on the headline of the Sunday paper about conditions in poultry farms...One thing mentioned was that of the 90 or so US Inspectors; like 86 of them wouldn't eat chicken and like 88 of them wouldn't allow their families to eat it....Could have had someting to do with sanitary conditions..?????
Anyway This may be a good time to have the wife start expeimenting with Tofu.........

Ever been in one? Reading an expose in the Sunday papers sure speaks the truth. I've been in quite a few chicken complexes when I was with my former employer. I think they're a bunch of back-woods idjuts, BUT, chicken factories are clean. I don't care what the papers say, they are clean. The only part of the factory that is somewhat quesy to be in is at the automatic neck slitters, but even that area is sanitized by the hour and is clean and sanitary. Before that is very peaceful for the birds. After that, its a big, clean USDA inspected butcher shop, mostly done automatically with machines. If you don't like butchering animals, you won't like ANY animal processing facility. But you can not claim they are not clean. They are, in fact, almost spotless. I've worked in a large bakery as well - now that's messy - flour and ingredients everywhere.
Please don't start posting why we should be vegans - you can be what you want to be and so can I. I can't change your mind, you can't change mine. But I am not a liar or a deceiver, if I thought the chicken factories I vistted were bad, I would say so.

YOu still can make your own decisions on what you eat...I was "tongue in cheek" joking sort of....but health wise it could be good advice to cut back on meat....But that's between you and your cardiologist .....
If you 've been in clean poultry prcoessing plants that's great...But that doesn't mean they all are like that...I worked with people who have been in them as well in TV production..They knew we were coming...and the producer I sent there wouldn't talk to me for 2 months....She was very upset and the video wasn't very nice...Now this was a big place, not a family farm...

Experts: Pandemic fears premature
Bird flu spread possible, not probable, officials caution
By David E. Williams
CNN


Monday, November 21, 2005; Posted: 3:22 p.m. EST (20:22 GMT)

The influenza pandemic of 1918 is estimated to have killed 20 milliion to 50 million people.

(CNN) -- While health officials have serious concerns about the H5N1 bird flu virus becoming a pandemic, they say it won't be a worldwide threat until the virus is able to spread easily between people.

That has not happened yet, and scientists stress that it might not happen with this strain.

Three things have to happen for a pandemic to start, according to the World Health Organization.

First, there has to be a new substrain of the flu virus. Second, it has to spread to humans and cause serious illness. Finally, it has to spread easily between people.

The flu virus currently circulating in Asia and parts of Europe has made the first two steps. But so far only 130 people have been infected with the H5N1 flu virus in Asia over the past two years -- 67 have died, according to the WHO.

There is no bird flu pandemic anywhere in the world. Health officials say that's because, at this point, the virus does not spread easily between people.

Almost all of the human cases have involved people who had direct contact with infected birds.

The fear is that the H5N1 virus will change and develop into a new strain that is highly contagious among humans.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has told CNN that there was no way to know if this bird flu would lead to a pandemic, but said it was only a matter of time before some strain of flu virus did.

He said that such an outbreak would be a natural disaster of unique proportions.

"It can happen in 5,000 different communities around the world at the same time. No central place can manage all of those difficulties and so local communities need to be ready, and part of the president's plan is to assure that they are," Leavitt said.

Three influenza pandemics swept the globe in the 20th century. The worst, in 1918-19, killed 20 million to 50 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and triggered an international panic.

The CDC has set up quarantine stations at 18 U.S. airports to monitor and respond to potential outbreaks.

President Bush outlined a $7.1 billion plan to prepare for a potential pandemic in a November 1 speech.

Much of the money would be spent on a stockpile of vaccine and antiviral drugs, but about $583 million is being spent on domestic preparedness and $251 million would go to help other countries detect and contain a potential outbreak.

"The most effective way to protect the American population is to contain an outbreak beyond the borders of the United States. While we work to prevent a pandemic from reaching our shores, we recognize that slowing or limiting the spread of the outbreak is a more realistic outcome and can save many lives," according to the Department of Homeland Security's national strategy plan.

The federal plan calls for coordination with international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization to isolate outbreaks.

Health officials stress that there is no risk of catching the bird flu by handling or eating birds in the United States.

The H5N1 virus has not shown up in the United States.

If a bird were to be infected with the virus, cooking it to a temperature above 158 degrees Fahrenheit will kill the virus, according to the WHO.

"To date, no evidence indicates that any person has become infected with the H5N1 virus following the consumption of properly cooked poultry or poultry products, even in cases where the food item contained the virus prior to cooking," according to the World Health Organization.

This appears to be sensible advice for not just H5N1.

It was Mongolian stir fried cat with water chestnuts and bokchoi.