Bird Flu returns to Germany

Bird Flu returns to Germany

www.earthtimes.org

Dresden, Germany - Bird flu has returned to Germany, with the H5N1 influenza virus breaking out among farm ducks in the eastern state of Saxony, officials said Thursday. It was the first proven appearance of the disease this year in Germany. Officials were preparing to slaughter the whole flock of ducks at Goerlitz, near the Polish border.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Here we go again.... bird flu.

In Germany... it's close to home for me ( I live in the Netherlands) despite all the measurments our governments take against it, it worries me very much. I think it's a potential danger to humans with not enough medication against it.

What do you think? Should we be worried or is it just one of those things where there's too much fuzz about?

www.earthtimes.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm telling you people,

Forget about the terrorists, the economy, astroids, and marital law.

Fear the germs!

I heard many years ago on c2c a scientist predicting viruses and bacteria would be the downfall of man. Captain Tripps will come around. Then none of us will have anything to worry about. Except for the perhaps one or two percent who may have immunity.

im pretty convinced that in good time the virus will mutate into a virus humans can pass to eachother.
if humans can catch it then humans will eventually pass it.
plus if you add all the medicines that we have tried to treat this virus, the cases where it has not worked eventually makes that disease more immune to that treatment.

now im not saying that this is definite. but something to consider.
i am personally scared to death of these crazy viruses that are popping up all of the sudden. scared, but yet i will refuse vaccination if it came down to that.
i dont trust them.
and i feel for you, this hitting so close to home. may god be with you and your loved ones

Originally posted by jpm1602
I heard many years ago on c2c a scientist predicting viruses and bacteria would be the downfall of man. Captain Tripps will come around. Then none of us will have anything to worry about. Except for the perhaps one or two percent who may have immunity.

Well they'll still have the Crimson King to worry about

Originally posted by lushyslushy
im pretty convinced that in good time the virus will mutate into a virus humans can pass to eachother.
if humans can catch it then humans will eventually pass it.
plus if you add all the medicines that we have tried to treat this virus, the cases where it has not worked eventually makes that disease more immune to that treatment.

I believe there is some evidence that in some plaes, it can already go from human to human. I will try to look that up.

Bird Flu....it comes and goes and I think will never disappear........I'm worried about an new Flu outbreak.....scientist are convinced it will come soon (read that in the paper).

Originally posted by milkyway
Bird Flu....it comes and goes and I think will never disappear........I'm worried about an new Flu outbreak.....scientist are convinced it will come soon (read that in the paper).

i'd like to know how these scientists are "convinced" about a entirely random event, coming soon. i'm not doubting you or anything - i'd just like to know what makes them so sure that there's a "super-flu" on the way. how can one possibly know this at all?! it's not like pattern recognition's a factor here! unless, they were privy to certain information that may sway their opinions to come to certain "hunches"...

Adrenochrome,

Large-scale diseases occure with some regularity througout history--not necesarily influenza, though that has certainly taken a lot of lives.

Most of the concern centers around the way that it is so much easier for people and other vectors to travel, through trains and planes and automobiles. Traveling vectors=traveling diseases.

In times past the diseases were somewhat confined to specific areas, since people did not travel as much or as far. With our current lifestyle the potential for an outbreak to go worldwide is much more increased, and that is what their worry is.

reply to post by asmeone2


I knew i'd see you here, My question is, has bird flu been in Germany before? It's seems each year a new country finds it. Is there a vacine yet? And out of curiosity what bacteria/virus concerns you the most?

I knew i'd see you here, My question is, has bird flu been in Germany before? It's seems each year a new country finds it. Is there a vacine yet? And out of curiosity what bacteria/virus concerns you the most?

I found this link about it being found in dead ducks near Munich last year.

It seems that it being carried and spread (among birds at this point) by migratory birds, like ducks, swans, geese, which of course don't pay attention to national boundaries.

Then here
is a link to a vaccine in developement--it doesn't seem to have a commercial name yet.

There's no way to really know how effective it is though--vaccines treat only specific virus strains. An influenza vaccine relies on the producers having the most current strains, and if the virus mutates quickly, it is largely ineffective. THat's why the current flue shots availible are iffy, and it's been almost impossible to produce and AIDS vaccine.

Me personally--I think that the avian flu is at the moment probably the most likely to turn into a pandemic. However some of the more exotic hemorrage fevers frighten me more, in terms of their symptoms and communicability--they just don't have as many vectors and aren't as widespread as h1n5. Bird flu is mostly treatable and has a comparitively low mortality rate, provided that it is caught early and the hospitals aren't overwhelmed, but there's almost no coming back from the hemmorage fevers.

reply to post by asmeone2


Wow still a 63.1% mortality rate. Thanks for pulling the info. At least the vacine is being developed near me, although that probably means i'd be the last to get it.

Remember though that most of the victims were from impoverished countries, who might well have survived if they had access to proper medical care.

Cluck cluck..chirp chirp....quack quack.

Fly little birdie...fly!!!!


Advice to Germany...dont eat the ducks!

Cheers!!!!

reply to post by asmeone2


Agree but in a pandemic is that not what we become. They may not have been able to get to a hospital, which isn't much different then getting there and recieving no help do to overflow. Although i agree the number would be lower. We may not perfectly prepared but at least a little.

Originally posted by anotherdad
reply to post by asmeone2

 

Agree but in a pandemic is that not what we become. They may not have been able to get to a hospital, which isn't much different then getting there and recieving no help do to overflow. Although i agree the number would be lower. We may not perfectly prepared but at least a little.

It kind of depends on how you look at it... and how this theoretical pandemic actually plays out.

If it was a small outbreak--or the lucky first outbreaks in a larger outbreak--they would probably be able to get to the hospital and get treament. Those people would certainly have a higher chance than 33% of surviving.

If we follow the 1918 model--that is, H1N1--it isn't the flu itself that kills the infected people, but the secondary onset of pnemonia.