New research warns of Olympics flu pandemic risk

The article's opening paragraph refers to swine flu's pandemic potential along with bird flu risks - but the balance focuses on H5N1 bird flu, recently found in Britain again. I wonder why they're bringing this up now, in this way. Is someone looking for funding, or do 'they' know something we don't?

The millions of tourists coming to London for the Olympics will dramatically increase the risk that a flu pandemic in Britain might spread, according to new research to be published this week.

...Britain is ranked second in the world, after Singapore, in terms of the risk of an avian or swine flu outbreak spreading, according to a new study of more than 200 countries by the risk analysts Maplecroft.

Experts warn that the scale of the threat is vast. “There is little pre-existing natural immunity to H5N1 infection in the human population. Should the virus improve its transmissibility, the entire human population could be vulnerable to infection,” states the research - citing previous warnings from the World Health Organization.

Bird flu is again decimating Asia's poultry industry, and killing more people.

At its peak in 2006 [bird flu] was present in 63 countries and there were 4,000 outbreaks of the disease in wild birds and poultry. Measures to halt the spread included mass culls on farms where infections were found or suspected. Some 400 million domestic poultry were slaughtered. The most high-profile case in Britain was that of a Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Holton, Suffolk, where 160,000 turkey chicks were gassed in 2007 to prevent the virus spreading any further.

I'm going to go with a measles epidemic being caused at the Olympics in London rather than the bird flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the Olympics in London, as well as the Euro 2012 soccer cup in Poland and Ukraine, will be huge draws for American travelers and will increase the risk for measles infection. The virus is much more prevalent in Europe, leading to eight deaths and 26,000 illnesses last year.

-snip-

Last year, England and Wales had 1,086 cases of measles, according to the U.K. Health Protection Agency. "Ukraine is experiencing a large measles outbreak right now," Martin says.

CDC warns U.S. travelers to London Olympics of measles risk

Also with the Euro soccer cup in the Ukraine 2012, they seem to have great difficulty getting their measles under control.

According to the data of epidemiologist, the total number of measles cases in Ukraine registered for December is 770: 503 cases in Lviv region, 208 cases in Ivano-Frankivsk region, 25 cases in Volyn region, 17 cases in Rivne region and 13 cases in Transcarpathian region

Ukraine: 2011 Measles outbreaks

Which doubled and tripled in those regions by mid-January 2012.
By January 4, 2012, the 770 cases turned into 1500 cases. By February 8, 2012 there were 2826 cases.

Ukraine: Measles 2012 cases

Most likely culprit of such fast spread of measles in the Ukraine is their government owned brothels. It goes from tourists into brothels. From the prostitutes into their children, from the children into the schools. Or from prostitutes to the men, men to their children, from their children into the schools.

Ukraine's government doesn't close down nor sanitize their brothels in the event of measles outbreaks in kids in the schools. They'd lose too much money if they close down brothels just because kids in schools were catching measles. Which is why the number of cases explodes there.

Just to give you an idea of the difference, any other area like Canada or the United States or even the UK, when they get the first few cases of measles-- MEASLES IS USUALLY CONTAINED WITHIN 30 CASES OR LESS WITHIN ANY REGION. In the U.S., if a kid infected with measles walks into a public building like a Social Security office, they close down the building. (Yes, they close down that particular Social Security office) for sanitation and they ventilate the building, cleansing the A/C unit if they have to.

Ukraine can't seem to contain the measles--they don't close down government-owned brothels in any measles region epidemic. Ukraine went from a few cases to nearly 3000 cases in just a couple of months, unable to contain them.

reply to post by MapMistress


Pretty good call. S&

...But I have a sneaky suspicion something more deadly might be in the works.