There was a report that it was detected in some birds in the Bahamas; the report was later declared incorrect by the Bahamian government (they would say that, wouldn't they...)

After reading John Barry's excellent book on the 1918 epidemic, "The Great Influenza", I got my doctor to prescribe me a few courses of Tamiflu last fall, which are currently sitting in a cool, dry place. I don't know how much good it'll do, I heard that despite early successes, some Vietnamese patients were treated with Tamiflu and died anyway. We'll see..

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Illegitimi non carborundum

...so how many people have actually died of this flu so far?? A few dozen??
Number is totally insignificant compared to the number of people that die from 'regular' flu each year. Issue sounds like a big news hype to me. What bird flu does make clear is that our bioindustry needs to be reformed: all these animal diseases lately, cann't be mere coincidence anymore: it's nature signalling us we've gone too far

__________________
2011 Prius

94 deaths and 173 documented cases.

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Government Working on New Bird Flu Vaccine
Mar 06 6:48 PM US/Eastern
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By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA

With new versions of bird flu emerging, U.S. health officials announced Monday that scientists must stir up a different vaccine recipe to try to protect people.

That's not unexpected because flu viruses _ whether in birds or people _ are constantly changing.

Federal health officials are merely trying "to keep right on the virus's tail and keep our vaccines as up to date as much as we can," said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert.

But despite its mutations, the continent-hopping bird flu virus seems content slaying wild birds and farm chickens, causing an estimated $10 billion in global agricultural losses.

It still doesn't easily infect people. That's good news, right?

Not necessarily, said Schaffner, who suggested three possible scenarios.

The virus could continue to spread in its current forms, mostly sparing humans. It could mutate into a more harmless version, which isn't even dangerous to birds. Or it could become a deadly human flu that spreads easily around the globe with the potential to kill millions, he said.

"We cannot let our guard down, because a series of genetic changes could happen at any time that could allow this virus to pick up the capacity to move from person to person," Schaffner said.

That's the thinking that led to Monday's announcement by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. He authorized the National Institutes of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin working on a second vaccine to protect people.

The government already has several million doses of a bird flu vaccine based on a sample of a virus taken in 2004 from Vietnam, where the first spate of cases in people began to show up.

But researchers have noted the emergence of a second version of bird flu. Under Leavitt's direction, U.S. researchers plan to create a new vaccine targeted at the second variety.

"In order to be prepared, we need to continue to develop new vaccines," Leavitt said at an immunization conference in Atlanta.

The second vaccine will be based on a virus sample taken from Indonesia last year, said Ruben Donis, leader of the molecular genetics team at the CDC's influenza branch.

The virus circulating in Indonesia is related to the Vietnamese virus, but it is not a descendant and it causes a different immune system response, he said.

The U.S. government is already spending $250 million for about 8 million doses against the Vietnamese version of bird flu, but has plans for enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans.

Federal officials contracted with two companies _ Chiron Corp. and Sanofi Pasteur _ for those doses, and most already have been produced, said Bill Hall, a spokesman for Health and Human Services. Researchers are signing up volunteers to test the vaccine.

The second vaccine must be developed and tested, and health officials had no immediate estimate for the cost of that work or the time frame for producing a new vaccine.

The vaccine based on the Vietnamese virus would be protective for people in the Vietnam region, but less effective against viruses circulating elsewhere, health officials said.

For most parts of the world, Schaffner believes it would be "partially effective."

How effective? Scientists don't have enough data yet to make a good prediction, he said.

No matter how effective, work on the first vaccine _ and now this second version _ should benefit subsequent efforts, said Dr. Walt Orenstein, associate director of Emory University's Vaccine Center.

"It's not like this will get made and sit on the shelf and forget about it. Many things may be learned," Orenstein said.

Since 2003, the World Health Organization has reported at least 174 human cases of bird flu, including 94 deaths. Most, if not all, of the victims were in very close contact with infected birds, but health officials worry that as bird flu spreads, its chances of mutating into a form threatening to people increase.

Health officials probably don't know how many people have been infected, and it's possible that bird flu does not kill as many of its human victims as some data have suggested, said Dr. Andrew Pavia, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Utah.

Some scientists think that if it becomes more efficient at spreading among humans, it will lose some of its efficiency at killing. "But that's still speculative," Pavia said.

Dr. Margaret Chan, who is spearheading the WHO efforts against the virus, said it poses a greater challenge to the world than any previous infectious disease. Since February, the virus has spread to birds in 17 new countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Chan said.

Poland on Monday confirmed its first outbreak of the disease, saying laboratory tests found that two wild swans died of the lethal strain.

In Austria, several cats tested positive for the deadly strain, officials in that country said Monday. Last week German officials reported a cat _ infected from apparently eating a sick bird _ and warned pet owners in some areas to keep their cats indoors and their dogs on a leash.

The WHO describes bird flu as unprecedented in its scope as an animal disease, saying it is costing the world's agriculture industry more than $10 billion and affecting the livelihoods of 300 million farmers.

Somethings going to give. This seething mass of humanity that we're a part of is at war with nature, and be it creation or evolution, if nature is going to move forward we've got to be slowed down somehow. Bird flu, bombs, weather, or material shortages; something is going to force us to take a big step backward.
But hey, lets party and make some money. Stay short the chicken feed (soybean meal) and long the soybean oil, and if your long the hogs against short the cattle just remember that when this stuff mutates it frequently goes to the hogs that can make people bugs real easy. Lets have some fun. We're just not gonna kick Mother Nature's butt forever.

__________________
89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

I humbles me when I can't shoot something before it kills me.

I guess if you surround yourself with fire, it wont getcha... or raise your body tempature to 110+ degrees


of course, you start to die at 108, but thats details


We did a study on it in biology, basicily an artical responce

if you have chickens, and they have bloddy clodias, run
if you see one with a bloody clodia, run
if you know of someone who saw one with a bloody clodia, run


or make a ring of fire... and it burns burns burns, the ring of fire
Cash knew something before we did
~Nate

__________________
95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

Wow – I thought that was about a yest infection.

__________________
89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

The leading causes of death in the United States are: 1. Heart Disease 2. Chuck Norris 3. Cancer

This sounds like it could be another health crisis or another way to just get people freaked out and buy alot of vaccine.

But either way with Bird Flu and Mad Cow, and who knows WTF is next; I am still glad to be a vegetarian. You won't catch me eatin that garbage. Yes it tastes good with Bar-B que sauce but so does brocolli.....

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Austin85,
Did you hear about the new killer virus in carrots and squash? It will eat your guts out.

Joking aside, I am not sure being a vegetarian is all that safe. Consider the chemicals they absorb from ground water and air.

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

Wrong wrong and wrong, Chuck Norris is the #1 cause of death because he allows it to happen, round house kick deaths increased %15,000 the day he was born.

I thought you said "joking aside"..?
You can't live in bubble...and the concentration of crap is FAR greater on animals, let alone factory farm anmals (which is what 99% of consumers buy) than on any fruit or veggie.
TBL is if you want to lower your risk ; EAT LOWER ON THE FOOD CHAIN.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Time to thin out the herd ?

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

Are you a vegan? Quahog clams absorb and can store malathion pesticide in concentrations 100% stronger than can humans.