Bird flu kills 4-year-old boy in Indonesia bringing the death toll to 160.

A 4-year-old Indonesian boy has died from bird flu, bringing the death toll to 160 in the country hardest-hit by the deadly virus, a health official said Tuesday. While the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed relatively few people, scientists have been closely monitoring it for its potential to mutate and affect humans worldwide. Last week, Kusriastuti said a form of the H5N1 virus not previously detected in Indonesia had killed hundreds of thousands of ducks on the main island of Java. The type of virus has been found circulating in a number of other countries and does not indicate any change that makes humans more susceptible. The new form of the virus is believed to have entered Indonesia through imported ducks, but Kusriastuti said it's also possible it may have evolved on its own from existing strains.

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As more people get infected with H5N1, the chance for mutation would seem to increase. Indonesia is the hardest hit country that we know of. Who knows for sure what is happening in China. They think that the disease is coming from imported ducks. This a apparently a new strain that killed the 4 year old boy, pathogenic avian influenza sub-type H5N1 2.3.2. The new strain may have been introduced from outside Indonesia by migratory wild ducks or by poultry imports from other countries. Indonesia imports ducks from Britain, France, Germany and parts of Malaysia. They do not yet know if the new strain is more infectious towards humans as of yet. Honestly, this reminds me of the very start of "Contagion" a little too much. Hopefully, I am just being paranoid.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Better get the government on the horn.......Something needs banned!!

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
reply to post by DarthMuerte

 

Better get the government on the horn.......Something needs banned!!

Agreed. Must ban migratory birds now. Think of the children. Seriously though. H5N1 does seem to be mutating, I just wonder if it has mutated enough yet?

Think of the children. We need to protect them from threats such as this. I think it's time people start realizing that the world would be better off without the bird flu.

I say ban the bird flu. Then maybe we can get started on those pesky homosexuals and their HIV.

In before all the brittish blokes come in here a call for a ban on ducks!

Round them all up! Tag their ankles!

It's time for Indonesia to get with the 21st century!!1

Originally posted by Mikeyy
In before all the brittish blokes come in here a call for a ban on ducks!

Round them all up! Tag their ankles!

The ducks? or the British Blokes?

Oh yay another bird flu scare! Just in time too; after the 21st we'll need another thing to be afraid of. Let's take a look at the updated list:

Y2K bug

Terrorism

Bird Flu 1

Swine Flu

Rapture 1

Rapture 2

2012 Apocalypse (pending)

Bird Flu 2 (pending)

And how many died from regular flu?

Exactly... way way more. So don't jump on the panic wagon.

reply to post by DarthMuerte

Sounds like more fear mongering propaganda like with last swine flu scare. A death toll of 160 is not much compared to a normal flu season. This was the case with last swine flu scare as well. Media kept listing every death and making a huge deal of it even though more people died during a so called normal flu season.