H5N1

[Guest]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7914044.stm

[thunderboult]

hi albear, i read the link and he caught it from raising and eating ducks, what it did'nt mention though was he raised the ducks(400) in the 1 room house he shared with his mother,father and 18 brother's and sister's ,4 dogs ,3 cats,2 chickens and a monkey. lol   i know it's a serious issue,but the way they live with them animals don't help matter's.

[peterpau]

A little harsh perhaps but probably true

[Guest]

Yep Thunderbolt, it's a big problem. Because it spreads so easy. The migration season is our big problem and scared politicians is the other once it gets going. Though public 'fear' diminished in 2008 after the hysteria of 2007, let's keep our fingers crossed becasue we are at the mercy of the wind and migration and public perception.

Now that we are all going to Barcelona this year it would be a killer to be stopped!

[Guest IB]

It's very easy to get carried away with misunderstandings about this.  (1) The migratory birds theory was hit on the head a few years ago. It's a disease of poultry, spread by the poultry industry itself. (2) Human infections & deaths peaked 2005 / 2006. The death rate has changed though, it was 50%; nowadays fewer folk catch it, but the death rate is higher.

 

This is the World Health Organisation statistics on human infections & deaths:-  

 

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country/cases_table_2009_02_27/en/index.html