posted on Oct, 21 2005 @ 08:23 AM
Let's restate what's happening:
Bird flu has killed people in Southeast Asia -- but not a lot of them, comparatively speaking
news.xinhuanet.com...
Up to 91 Vietnamese people have been infected with bird flu since the disease started to break out in the country in late 2003. Of them 41 have
died
91 cases in 2 years. Now, Vietnamese government may not be the most truthful one... so....
There are a few cases in Thailand:
www.bangkokpost.com...
Russia: Birds only ones affected -
www.channel4.com...
Romania: Birds only ones affected (beware of popups on this page. Annoying!)
www.forbes.com...
Turkey: Birds only ones affected -
www.forbes.com...
Taiwan: in birds smuggled in by bird smuggler. Smuggler has no symptoms, but birds died of the avian flu -
www.taipeitimes.com...
Scotland: in birds, not humans -
news.scotsman.com...
The term "bird flu" is a high target set of words right now. I think people read the articles, see the name and reports of governments preparing
for it and the Worry Factor sets in. Every new title begins to look like the beginning of an epidemic.
So far, there aren't any confirmed cases (at least as of last week) of the virus going from one human to another... just the occasional jump from
birds to humans. Few humans coming in contact with infected birds catch te flu.
While I think we need to keep an eye on all zoonotic diseases (this one will affect our food supplies) I also think the media's gone completely
hysterical over this one.
Just check the archives for SARS last year and you'll see the same worry and panic over a similar handfull of cases.