Panasonic Recalls Families Over Bird Flu Pandemic Fears

Panasonic Recalls Families Over Bird Flu Pandemic Fears

www.thejakartaglobe.com

Panasonic Corporation has ordered Japanese employees in some foreign countries to send their families home to Japan in preparation for a possible bird flu pandemic, a spokesman said.

Family members of Japanese employees in parts of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, former Soviet states and Latin America will fly back to Japan by the end of September, Panasonic spokesman Akira Kadota said.

The firm decided to take the rare measure “well ahead of possible confusion at the outbreak of a global pandemic.”

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
EXCLUSIVE: Spin and Counterspin: New Bird Flu Mutation has 91% Fatality Rate in Humans

Note that the recall is scheduled for September. Talk about planning ahead.

...But why does Panasonic think that pulling employee's families out of selected countries next September will be “well ahead of possible confusion at the outbreak of a global pandemic”?

No one can predict pandemics. Or can they?



www.thejakartaglobe.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Whoa, surprised to discover that my local newspaper has an online version!

As for predicting bird flu pandemics....it's really impossible to predict such a thing, but not impossible to measure it. There are all sorts of statistics and data pouring out from the region.

I think that Panasonic must have a real careful bigshot at the top of their QHSE who has ensured that once Bird Flu pandemic possibilities get's to a certain level, they are instructed to prepare evacuations.

I have already seen Bird Flu pandemic drills at some of the local airports. Panasonic isn't the only one preparing I am certain.

there's been talk about the coming bird flu pandemic for some time. I assumed it was the usual scare tactic to generate funding for study. But no cases have yet been transmitted person to person as far as I know. So far every human case has been contracted from sick birds. Yes human to human transmission could happen any time, but bird flu has been around for a long time and it never has happened so why all the fuss now? Why plan to send people home because of a growing pandemic months from now? Maybe there is some other reason they want to recall people and are just blaming it on this.

Just for the benefit of ATSers, know that garlic, not the pill stuff, but real garlic, is what can protect you from this stuff. Simple, cheap, and tasty.

reply to post by earlywatcher



1. Limited human-to-human transmission already has occurred. [Read the info on the CDC webpage and the ATS story, both linked above.]

2. CIDRAP gives a good overview of Panasonic's rationale/explanations here:
Panasonic addresses speculation over employee pandemic order

3. Why all the fuss now? ...Because there will be a pandemic soon. As scientists say, "It's not a question of if, but when." ...Simply put - we have changed our would, and now it's changing us. Viruses and microbes are adapting rapidly to our planet's altered chemistry and changed atomic structures, but more complex lifeforms are lagging behind. It's a significant problem.

4. I think one of the most interesting tidbits outlined in the sourced article is that Panasonic will not be pulling employee's families out of Indonesia. Interesting because Indonesia is an acknowledged hothouse for bird flu - the virus is endemic there, epidemic in birds, animals and even insects, and present in the soil and water. ...So why not pull employee's families out of Indonesia? ...Would it be too dangerous to bring them home to Japan? Who made that policy decision?

.

reply to post by soficrow


I can't find any human to human transmission except within family members so there might be a genetic component as well as they might all have had contact with sick or dead birds. I did find a nice table on the WHO website that shows all human cases, survivors and deaths, and the countries in which they occurred. The numbers don't seem to indicate an increase in cases.
WHO avian flu webpage

I don't mean to suggest that this isn't a terribly serious situation. It is, and I appreciate you bringing this up. Although I read the initial update to the old thread, I didn't realize there was so much action over there after the post I read so I need to go catch up.

Thanks earlywatcher.

Originally posted by earlywatcher
reply to post by soficrow

 

I can't find any human to human transmission except within family members so there might be a genetic component as well ...

Human-to-human H5N1 transmission has been recorded several times, including to an unrelated nurse - but in general, such transmission is not efficient, except perhaps with genetic susceptibility.

But the virus mutates rapidly and frequently - the fear is that a new strain may spread efficiently human-to-human and cause a pandemic.

RE: Increased cases. The problem is the testing: molecular diagnostics are required, but unavailable. Most likely, far more cases have occurred than have been diagnosed and recorded.


.

Note that Panasonic is planning for a lethal pandemic wave in September - and started well BEFORE the current crisis.

...This does NOT mean there was a planned attack, although some fools likely are messing around again. But in the larger scheme of things, it's what we've done to our planet's system that's most important.

And the system has changed. It's now out of control. And yes, everybody who's anybody knows. They've known it's coming for a long time. ...Nothing was done to stop it.

More info here: How Could an Event in 1997 Cause a Pandemic in 2009? What Happened?