Bird Flu Chickens Out

In a reversal from previous statements, the CDC has declared that Bird Flu may not be a serious threat to humanity. Comparing H5N1 to the previous widely hyped threats such as SARS and swine flu, the CDC chief spoke to a pandemic flu conference at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.



Now, obviously this could just be propaganda, but the spin doctors have been hard at work mixing up impressive scare campaigns. It's not terrorists we have to worry about. It's chickens with runny beaks.

If anything I feel the Bird Flu hype, and those who peddle in it, has two potential purposes:
1. The typical scare tactics used to keep control over the populace.
2. To quietly prepare people for a real threat. One of war, not of feathers.

It seems every day here on ATS someone is helping push the fear angle... helping to keep people locked indoors, sitting at their keyboards, afraid to even breathe the air. I just hope the members of our virtual community can see past the fog of fear, to reveal what is and is not something that actually deserves concern.

Related News Links:
www.physorg.com
news.bbc.co.uk

[edit on 28/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

From the clip above:

Gerberding cautioned that when H5N1 is detected in the United States, “there will be temptation for the press to make this into something it is not. We will need responsible journalism” to prevent irrational panic.

NEWSFLASH 1: Bird flu already has been "detected" in the USA.

NEWSFLASH 2: There will be a pandemic, which likely will involve a flu conferring virulence, but also involving other diseases currently epidemic in the USA like E. coli, West Nile Virus and/or community acquired MRSA.

NEWSFLASH 3: Americans are being whipped into a patriotic frenzy, and incited to hatred and war, to distract them from the real crises facing the nation and the world.

NONE of these real crises require war as a solution. War serves only the profiteers, not the public good.

.

NEWSFLASH 1: Bird flu already has been "detected" in the USA.

As of September, only low pathogenic has been found. The recent mallard incident remains dubious.

www.usda.gov...
HPAI H5N1 has not been detected in the United States. However, other strains of HPAI have been detected and eradicated three times in the United States: in 1924, 1983 and 2004. No significant human illness resulted from these outbreaks.

NEWSFLASH 2: There will be a pandemic, which likely will involve a flu conferring virulence, but also involving other diseases currently epidemic in the USA like E. coli, West Nile Virus and/or community acquired MRSA.

... mmhmm.

NEWSFLASH 3: Americans are being whipped into a patriotic frenzy, and incited to hatred and war, to distract them from the real crises facing the nation and the world.

And how is that different from whipping them into a fear frenzy about an unproven and questionable threat?

NONE of these real crises require war as a solution. War serves only the profiteers, not the public good.

Who said war was a solution? What I suggest is that a possible motive for the fear mongering is to prepare people for a real crisis in the form of a nuclear/biological/chemical war.

From the BBC related article link...

The H5N1 virus is still around. But experts say it has been largely "dormant" in recent months.

Europe has seen no cases since the outbreak in Turkey, nor has Africa been hit by any major outbreaks since the beginning of the year.

In South-East Asia, where most cases of bird flu are seen both in animals and humans, there have been no cases in Vietnam this year, whereas it was previously a hot-spot for bird flu.

Experts say this is probably because people have learnt to restrict access to birds and so reduced infection risk, and because monitoring systems have been improved so the virus would not have the chance to spread unchecked.

Sorry... but the constant rattling of the Bird Flu sabre is on par with the terrorist paranoia running rampant. People really need to just get over it and live their lives to the fullest without being afraid of every boogeyman that may be lurking around the corner.

I agree - people should live their lives to the fullest without being afraid of every boogeyman that may be lurking around the corner.

People should prepare, not panic. And part of preparing is being fully informed.

FYI - "Low-path" flus mutate into high-path strains - a bird flu is considered "high path" only if it kills 76% to 100% of chickens infected artificially (ie., 7 or 8 out of 8 infected). If it kills 6 out of 8, it's considered 'low-path.'

Also FYI: Low-pathogenic H5N1 has been confirmed in the United States this year - including in Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

...The question is not IF there will be a pandemic, but WHEN it will be, and WHAT microbe will dominate. For more information: The Perfect Microbial Storm.

IMO - the National Academy of Sciences is more credible than Gerbering's PR sound bites.

There is no evidence of possible pandemic?

And that The press should not be tempted to turn something into what is not.

Is this a warning for something?

Has the death of the Mallard ducks raising some concerns and now the damage control group is trying to get peoples attention from a possible panic?

I am kind of suspicious of this report.

Has anybody gotten any news of people getting sick after the death ducks were found?

Can the first human contamination happen already in the US and now the CDC is trying to easy the way into the possibility of news finding out and creating a panic attack in the US?

humm. Something is not right.

Originally posted by soficrow
People should prepare, not panic. And part of preparing is being fully informed.

I agree one must always be prepared, but there is a difference between preparing people and oversaturating them with excessive inconsequential information.

Low-pathogenic H5N1 has been confirmed in the United States this year - including in Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Yes I believe some of those were listed in the USDA article I quoted.

No doubt something is going to happen. But the media gave up on their fear campaign last year. If there was any real threat left, they would still be all over it... undoubtedly trying to find some way to blame it on Bush.

IMO - the National Academy of Sciences is more credible than Gerbering's PR sound bites.

A lot more people than those at the CDC (whom I think have a bit more interest in an influenza pandemic than the NAS) are coming to the conclusion that the H5N1 threat is waning.

Originally posted by marg6043
And that The press should not be tempted to turn something into what is not.

Considering how big a frenzy the media made before... yeah...

Has the death of the Mallard ducks raising some concerns and now the damage control group is trying to get peoples attention from a possible panic?

Doubtful. You probably won't see this report on the 6o'clock news.

Can the first human contamination happen already in the US and now the CDC is trying to easy the way into the possibility of news finding out and creating a panic attack in the US?

Possible, but since this report goes along with what many other "experts" are saying, I tend to think I stand a greater chance of being pecked to death by chickens than getting sick from one of them sneezing on me.

Originally posted by apc

IMO - the National Academy of Sciences is more credible than Gerbering's PR sound bites.

A lot more people than those at the CDC (whom I think have a bit more interest in an influenza pandemic than the NAS) are coming to the conclusion that the H5N1 threat is waning.

The H5N1 threat per se may be waning - but the threat of a pandemic is not.

However, H5N1 remains endemic in Asia, possibly Egypt, and seems to be moving into Africa. It has NOT gone away - and as it becomes less lethal, it paradoxically also becomes more dangerous.

The real danger is - and always was - the potential for new hybrids to develop in hosts with other infections who are cross-infected with flu. The role played by flu might be small, and work primarily to provide virulence.

IMO - Gerberding is just doing damage control for "when H5N1 is detected in the United States," and in case outbreaks are reported honestly.

BTW - If there is no pandemic danger, then why is the CDC running pandemic planning conferences in virtually every state and county in the nation?



.

Possibly for the reason I have stated... preparation for war. If there exists a genuine threat for an NBC conflict in the not-too-distant future, we certainly wouldn't see press conferences being held about it. We would see experts telling people to stockpile food and water, to know how to seal up their windows and doors, and to not expect the government to immediately come to their rescue. Which is exactly what is happening.

Sorry apc - I think you got sucked in.

This is just the old Texas two-step - all about the money. ...The Goolsby family is tight with the Republican Party and Bush family - and needed a bit of help with the Pilgrim's Pride merger.

Especially, they needed for bird flu NOT to threaten the chicken market, what with the cost of the Gold Kist takeover and all.

More info here.

See... I told you it's all Bush's fault.

Without doubt Bird Flu threatens the chicken market. I never questioned the capability of this virus to kill millions and millions of birds. But with how long the virus has been circling the globe, decades, I don't see any reason to suddenly plow full steam into the "We're all gonna die!" hype. The only reason we're even discussing the issue today is because of the media going crazy over it.

It just makes more sense that the Bird Flu "threat" is being used to warn people about a real threat without causing widespread panic. During the Cold War NATO published pamphlets to inform civilians about the Soviet nuclear threat and what to do about it. Today, what have we seen to inform civilians about the present day nuclear threat? About the biological and chemical warfare threat? Nothing. Nothing except what to do if there's a Bird Flu pandemic. And the instructions and preparations are exactly the same as what people should do in the above stated war scenarios.

It would be grossly irresponsible for our governments to ignore the civilian safetly issue. It would be equally irresponsible for them to cause widespread panic about the possibility of a real war. I suspect, and I am aware I could be wrong, that we are seeing a happy medium. Informing people on how to survive a possible widescale catastrophe without causing irrational panic by using a relatively benign threat that is already conveniently hyped to the max.

I am afraid it is not only Chickens that are a possible problem.

All birds are potential carriers of the H5N1 virus.

Much more importantly, the H5N1 virus has also, not only succeeded in infecting a number of domestic mammals such as dogs, cats and pigs but many wild mammals as well.

What all this means is, that it is unlikely that the killing of huge number of any species, can eliminate this virus.

On the positive side, many experts feel that the expected mutation of this virus in to a human pandemic form of flu, will most likely NOT take place durinf the year 2007.

JM Tom

The-Best-Bird-Flu-Blogs-Team.
www.birdflubreakingnews.com

[Text White

Welcome to ATS. Thank you SO much for using your first post here to SPAM my thread. I really, really appreciate it. *hugs*