Can we get some info on this avian flu?

[Jamison]

Experts in this area please post here.

I've heard virtually nothing about this flu other than it's dangerous & that it could come to the US.

- How is it spread & how contagious is it?
- What are the symptoms?
- How is it fatal to people?

[mth44sc]

1. a bit of blog info

The following blog has been doing a great deal of reporting and covering of this in recent week

http://www.node707.com/

Just a Bump in the Beltway

[democracyindanger]

2. http://www.fluwikie.com/

[phantom power]

3. Some basic info..

The current strain spreads from birds (ducks) to humans. It's fatality rate has been about 50%, but it doesn't spread human to human.

The real danger is a mutated strain that "learns" to pass from human to human. This strain is likely to be less fatal, but the fatality rate will not be known until it happens. In 1918, the infection rate was 25%, and the fatality rate was 2%. The WHO is predicting something similar.

Like all flus, it will probably spread by contact and by aerosols from sneezing/coughing. The best defense will be things like

1) washing hands very very frequently
2) wearing a face mask
3) avoiding human contact whenever possible.

One sort of evil thing about flus is that you can be contagious for up to 3 days before any symptoms. So, in the event of a pandemic, we'll all have to get into the mode of assuming everyone is a possible carrier, even if they don't appear sick.

[Tyler Durden]

7. In the Viro lab, we always laughed at the mask wearers.

Those things will pass anything smaller than a single streptococcus.

Anything restrictive enough (<25-200 nm), and you won't be able to pull air through it. Flu is on the high side, but 200 nm = 0.000002 mm, so the plastic and duct tape is utterly worthless.

[phantom power]

8. Hmm... Will they stop the areosol droplets that carry the virus?

[Tyler Durden]

11. MOST viruses don't need the droplets.

Even those that do, usually have about half of their population in singlets outside of any carrier droplet or otherwise.

[phantom power]

12. Far out. So, you're saying my supply of facemasks is a placebo?

[Tyler Durden]

15. Essentially, yes.

Figure it this way: if a mask were effective, then why not just use a better mask all the way up to level 4 containment?

If you have a spare space suit with rechargeable back pack, let me know.

[eShirl]

4. here are the 3 links I have

"Flu Clinic" forum http://www.curevents.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40

"Disease Outbreaks" forum http://discuss.agonist.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6

Dr. Henry Niman http://www.recombinomics.com/whats_new.html


edited to add: all 3 of these links have been on this story for months

[Lasher]

5. It was the lead story in National Geographic this month

Here's a link where you can get a partial on the story:

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0510/feature1/index.html

Scary stuff! I'm starting to think about how my wife and I could live here for a couple of months without outside contact with anyone else at all.

[shraby]

6. Go to google news and put bird flu in

then when the news comes up, click on "sort by date" and you will get the latest on the bird flu. I watched it closely last year because it was spread all across asia, even some cats got it.
You can keep track of how many people have come down with it and how many have died by checking the news often.
It's transferred from chickens/ducks to people who have close contact with infected birds. Over there, people live in close proximity to their flocks of chickens.

[Jamison]

9. Good links & info

Thank you everyone.

[Avalux]

10. Here's something I put together awhile ago -

posted in the Science Forum:

"Explaining Avian Flu Virus and Possible Pandemic"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=228&topic_id=5742

[Athame]

13. Thanks for this reminder, Sparosnare

I read the thread back in April and forgot to thank you then. Just finished reading John Barry's book, THE GREAT INFLUENZA. Hate to admit a common reading list with **, but the book is an excellent description (for a layperson) not only of the workings of the influenza virus and the history of medicine, but especially for the terrible consequences of political foolishness--suppressing information for political reasons and downplaying the seriousness of the outbreaks--and the drastic measures it will take to contain this pandemic once it gets going.

The shrub may be salivating at the opportunity to impose martial law, but history shows that the only communities to survive with few casualties were those who managed to completely isolate themselves, including ruthless measures.

[Postman]

14. It's not dangerous, yet. Check out the latest National Geographic

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0510/feature1/index.html


So far this virus—classified as H5N1 for two proteins that stud its surface like spikes on a mace—isn't good at passing from birds to people, let alone from one person to the next. "It can make that first step across, but then it doesn't spread easily from human to human," says Webster. "Thank God. Or else we'd be in big trouble."

[Tyler Durden]

16. Every flu virus ever caught has made that jump.

Flu mutates VERY WELL. That's one of the main reason we haven't got an effective lifetime vaccine, like Poliomyelitis.