Is this scary to anyone else?
In 1920 over 40 million (perhaps closer to 50 million) people died of a flu virus. And that's not just in some remote area of the world. That's everywhere. Worldwide. A Pandemic.
The H2N2 strain (more commonly known as "Spanish Flu") isn't really something a lot of people know about let alone think about. But imagine for a moment if people in your family and your town were suddenly getting ill and dying. All around you. Everywhere in the world.
The thing is, this is still likely to happen today. In fact, despite our advances in medical care and drugs, there is still no cure for influenza. Today, population is higher and more dense. If a flu virus reached pandemic levels today, it will kill millions of people worldwide. That includes the U.S., Austrailia and the U.K. WorldWide.
Here is what is happening:
- Birds get sick just like people do. One illness that has been seen in birds for hundreds of years is a type of flu. Some types are more susceptable than others and of course some strains of flu are more deadly than others. But this is for the birds.
- People might get sick by coming into contact with birds that have a virus. Usually this is through contact of feces and so it is more common for people who actually work with poultry to get sick.
- Viruses are very unstable. They mutant and join together very frequently. When people start getting sick with diseases that usually affect only certain types of other animals, that shows a mutation. If it mutats again OR joins with another type of "human flu" strain, then it can be spread from human to human. This is where it gets worrisome.
- Humans have no, ZERO, immunity from viruses from other animals. So it's usually very fatal. And it also would spread very quickly once humans are passing it to each other. Disease spreads faster in highly populated areas and in "travel hubs" which have a lot of access to other places of the world.
- Millions of birds have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of the virus.
- Every 27 years there is a pandemic flu virus on Earth. The last was 1918 so we are well overdue.
- Once a virus like the current Avian flu (H5N1) which originated in Asia really starts rolling, it really cannot be stopped. Right now, we are just waiting. And watching. Britain has already started preparing for mass deaths. (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=649760) But there is really no way to prepare.
- There is no cure for flu. Vaccines are helpful, but we have a shortage of annual flu vaccines just for regular, common flu. The Center for Disease Control says that there is no way that there will be enough vaccine for the Avian flu. In order to make it available to the public, companies would have had to start a long time ago in order to produce enough. (Vaccines are being tested by scientists in Veitnam and probably China, but they will not be able to actually produce it until 2006 at the earliest depending on how their tests go.
The H2N2 strain (more commonly known as "Spanish Flu") isn't really something a lot of people know about let alone think about. But imagine for a moment if people in your family and your town were suddenly getting ill and dying. All around you. Everywhere in the world.
The thing is, this is still likely to happen today. In fact, despite our advances in medical care and drugs, there is still no cure for influenza. Today, population is higher and more dense. If a flu virus reached pandemic levels today, it will kill millions of people worldwide. That includes the U.S., Austrailia and the U.K. WorldWide.
Here is what is happening:
- Birds get sick just like people do. One illness that has been seen in birds for hundreds of years is a type of flu. Some types are more susceptable than others and of course some strains of flu are more deadly than others. But this is for the birds.
- People might get sick by coming into contact with birds that have a virus. Usually this is through contact of feces and so it is more common for people who actually work with poultry to get sick.
- Viruses are very unstable. They mutant and join together very frequently. When people start getting sick with diseases that usually affect only certain types of other animals, that shows a mutation. If it mutats again OR joins with another type of "human flu" strain, then it can be spread from human to human. This is where it gets worrisome.
- Humans have no, ZERO, immunity from viruses from other animals. So it's usually very fatal. And it also would spread very quickly once humans are passing it to each other. Disease spreads faster in highly populated areas and in "travel hubs" which have a lot of access to other places of the world.
- Millions of birds have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of the virus.
- Every 27 years there is a pandemic flu virus on Earth. The last was 1918 so we are well overdue.
- Once a virus like the current Avian flu (H5N1) which originated in Asia really starts rolling, it really cannot be stopped. Right now, we are just waiting. And watching. Britain has already started preparing for mass deaths. (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=649760) But there is really no way to prepare.
- There is no cure for flu. Vaccines are helpful, but we have a shortage of annual flu vaccines just for regular, common flu. The Center for Disease Control says that there is no way that there will be enough vaccine for the Avian flu. In order to make it available to the public, companies would have had to start a long time ago in order to produce enough. (Vaccines are being tested by scientists in Veitnam and probably China, but they will not be able to actually produce it until 2006 at the earliest depending on how their tests go.