News came today that the Avian Flu H5N1 has definitely hit our shores.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/6327193.stm
What concerns me is the speed at which it spread:
"The first deaths happened on Tuesday 30 January when 71 chicks died, said Defra.
A further 186 died the following day and 860 died on 1 February.
Some 1,500 died on Thursday, making a total of 2,617."
Can you imagine what something like this could do in the human population?
H5N1 Hits England
Discussion in '2008 Archive' started by mnw, Feb 3, 2007.
-
Matt Black Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
I'm afraid the only way I can cope with this is to make light of the situation:
"Bernard's Turkey Sizzlers - bootiful!"
"Didn't we just have Christmas?"
"I won't get bird flu - I'm a bloke."
"Is bird flu the female equivalent of 'man flu'?" -
The first two, not so sure about.
The second two - great!
What I do not get about this whole thing is there turkeys were kept inside their whole, short, sad lives.
Plus, even if it were by some migrating bird this is not the right season really. -
-
Matt Black Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
The latest theory is the virus might have come from Hungary (cue yet more lame puns about eating turkeys because you're Hungary). The H5N1 virus could mutate, particularly if it comes in contact with a human flu virus; the antiviral drugs ('vaccines') are not really vaccines but a broad-spectrum treatment for flu-type viruses which can ease the symptoms; they are neither a cure or a vaccine.
-
AF Guy N Paradise Active MemberSite Supporter
Cheers, my wife is English and is heading over there for a couple of weeks in early March to hopefully witness to her dying grandmother and to other members of her family.
Is there anything she needs to know about what food to avoid or what not to get near? I was stationed over in England from 88-90 and I still to this day can not give blood because of the mad cow scare... -
Matt Black Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Just turkey ATM. So far (ie given the virus does not mutate), it's not so much a matter of avoiding certain foods as avoiding working with poultry and handling the carcasses - that's the only way so far that humans (notably in Vietnam) have contracted the virus. Eating cooked meat shouldn't be a problem.
-
Matt Black Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
It seems that the Hungarian connection is indeed the most likely culprit; looks like we're dealing with a poultry-to-poultry communication, not wild birds.
-
It still does not make sense to me.
If it came from a turkey from Turkey (gotta love it) then I have several queries:
1. How did the infected turkey from Turkey (forgive me) survive the journey?
2. Why is there not an outbreak in Turkey where the turkey came from?
I am sure there are answers, but it all seems a bit mixed up to me.