Killer flu: It's a disaster in the making -- Preventative Medic...

It began with a cough. Then came the sniffles, and then a terrible fever. No one thought it was anything more than the flu.

[Nahum]

If people would just practice routine prevention of the spread and contracting of viruses, etc...there would not be this concern!

[DoctorDismal]

I totally agree Nahum -

People at my job kept coming in sick, not getting medicine from the doctor, and kept hacking and passing germs. This "bug" lasted 3 months in our office.

[Sam]

DoctorDismal wrote:

I totally agree Nahum -
People at my job kept coming in sick, not getting medicine from the doctor, and kept hacking and passing germs. This "bug" lasted 3 months in our office.

There's alot of people out there that have no choice except to come in sick. Many employers don't offer sick time, and those employers are usually the ones paying minimum wage or slightly higher. So these people can't afford to take a day off because they're sick, otherwise baby Tamisha doesn't eat. Unfortunately, even the impoverished have to eat.

[Klum]

Sam wrote:

<quoted text>
There's alot of people out there that have no choice except to come in sick. Many employers don't offer sick time, and those employers are usually the ones paying minimum wage or slightly higher. So these people can't afford to take a day off because they're sick, otherwise baby Tamisha doesn't eat. Unfortunately, even the impoverished have to eat.

Why its gota be baby Tamisah? Why it can't be baby Todd, Sally or Bruce?

[obama THE CLOWN]

Klum wrote:

<quoted text>
Why its gota be baby Tamisah? Why it can't be baby Todd, Sally or Bruce?

why assume that they are refering to a black person?? a little paranoid are we???

[Klum]

obama THE CLOWN wrote:

<quoted text>why assume that they are refering to a black person?? a little paranoid are we???

Contrary. It appears to me it was a bust on Azerbaijanis. By the way Obama is a clown and so are you.

[Xxx]

Same old BS story. The only reason this is news is that it fits an anniversary date. The reality is we know very little and won't be able to do very much about it. Also, there is no evidence that the avian flu can ever be transmitted between people. Just a guess.

[jeff]

The recent flu virus has been severe enough that I could see it killing people easily. I know my body shut down completely for several weeks. Fever, no bodily functions, ....

[Doc in the Box]

jeff wrote:

The recent flu virus has been severe enough that I could see it killing people easily. I know my body shut down completely for several weeks. Fever, no bodily functions,....

Don't worry, I think it was just Super Bowl Sunday.

[Concerned]

that's why i quit my job. first of all, let's face it, only losers work in 9-5 office jobs. And those that do are disgusting, they think their work "matters" and that we will "miss them" if they are not at work. office people don't HAVE hobbies, or interests (as they are office dolts) so of course they come to work, where people are FORCED to talk to others they usually wouldn't give the time of day to. if you work in an office job ... QUIT!

[Concerned]

can't "afford" to take time off. trust me, i'd rather most of my ex co-workers had died of the flu, rather than cause me to have so much as a fever. you are DISGUSTING if you go to work with the flu,

[reality please]

We all know that people save their sick days for when they are not sick. What is sick, is most of these posts....

[Kathleen]

Birds pose so many dangers, Avian flu is just the tip of the iceberg. Over 60+ diseases are able to be transmitted to humans who are exposed to birds and their droppings. Bird infestations near your home, business, or local park arent' as harmless as you think.

Bird-X

[Franklin Ratliff]

The worst epidemic in the history of mankind happened within the lifetime of people still living today.

195,000 Americans dying in one month in 1918 would today be the equivalent of 590,000 Americans dying in one month.

[Franklin Ratliff]

All of this happened before the rapid global transportation we have today.

"The influenza commonly called "Spanish flu" killed more people than the guns of World War I. Estimates put the worldwide death toll at 21,642,274. Some one billion people were affected by the disease -- half of the total human population. It came at a time when 19 nations were at war and the disruption, stress, and privation of war certainly aided the flu's transmission. It killed people on every continent except Antarctica, with the most lives lost in Asia and the highest percentage of population killed in India. From August 1918, when cases of the flu started looking abnormally high, until the following July when they returned to about normal, 20 million Americans became sick and more than 500,000 died. In October, 1918, the flu reached its peak, killing about 195,000 Americans. About 57,000 American soldiers died from influenza while the U.S. was at war; about 53,500 died in battle."

"By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 22, 2006; A03

An influenza pandemic of the type that ravaged the globe in 1918 and 1919 would kill about 62 million people today, with 96 percent of the deaths occurring in developing countries.

That is the conclusion of a study published yesterday in the Lancet medical journal, which uses mortality records kept by governments during the time of "Spanish flu" to predict the effect of a similarly virulent outbreak in the contemporary world.

The analysis, the first of its kind, found a nearly 40-fold difference in death rates between central India, the place with the highest recorded mortality, and Denmark, the country with the lowest. The reason for the huge variation is not known, but it may reflect differences in nutrition and crowding.

If a modern Spanish flu killed all its victims in one year, it would more than double global mortality. About 59 million people now die each year.

"It is a huge, huge number," said Christopher J.L. Murray, a physician and biostatistician at the Harvard School of Public Health who headed the study. "This really took us by surprise."

One of the World Health Organization's key influenza experts, however, called the main public health implication of the study "no surprise."

"The countries most likely to be adversely affected are the ones with the least resources. This happened then, and is what is likely to happen now," said Keiji Fukuda. "WHO, as it always has done, pays a disproportionate amount of its attention and efforts toward such countries."

Historical accounts suggest that what became known as Spanish flu emerged at an Army camp in Kansas in early March 1918. It was carried to Europe by American troops, where it circulated before undergoing a change early the next fall that made it unusually lethal. It spread around the world and was brought back to the United States, where it killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in October and November 1919. It circulated until early 1920, with virtually everyone on Earth eventually exposed to the virus."

[GEEK]

I wish it would happen worldwide...the world is overpopulated!!!

I believe in eugenics.

A link for the morons (which most of you are)...http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Eugenics

[Stupidity Bothers Me]

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT PLANNING TO RELEASE NOW?

[crankyclipper]

GWB will make sure to release some type of lethal "bug" to incapacitate the voters on election day and blame it on terrorists. No vote will be possible...the republicans will remain....Oh Vey!!!

[Dataperson]

Well, if the problem is birds, the answer is easy, right? Just sic Dick Cheney on 'em. Problem solved.

Me, I can't figure out why newspapers like printing these horror story things when nothing's happening. Ever hear the story about the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf?'

[good die young]

Dataperson wrote:

Well, if the problem is birds, the answer is easy, right? Just sic Dick Cheney on 'em. Problem solved.
Me, I can't figure out why newspapers like printing these horror story things when nothing's happening. Ever hear the story about the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf?'

nonono