So, how did H5N1 (bird flu) get into a turkey farm in the U.K.? A wild bird, of course! It must have flown in through a vent. So what if birds aren't migrating now? No, no, the virus couldn't possibly have been imported from Hungary, where there have been outbreaks, and where the Bernard Matthews company owns plants. Bernard Matthews sez ( Read more... )

Now we know: Ted Haggard has admitting to buying methamphetimine. He says he never used it. Supply your own "didn't inhale" joke here.

Also, I love how the BBC headline calls him "Sex-row US pastor."

Let's see, what else...

+ Nuclear secrets were online because they wanted to "unleash the blogosphere". Sadly, No commented on it last spring. ( Read more... )

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... And it's just getting worse. Reuters says half a million people have fled in the face of Typhoon Saomai, expected to hit just south of the city of Wenzhou. It's looking to be the biggest storm to hit China in forty years. The BBC says 1.5 million have been evacuated.

More than 1.5 million people have been evacuated from their homes in ( Read more... )

So caia, you say, what's been happening with that bird flu thing lately?

I'm glad I pretended you asked! Here's some of the recent news:

The World Health Organization is warning that we may see another upswing in human bird flu cases this winter, based on when cases have happened in the last three years. They also say that the risk of the ( Read more... )

One thing that really ruffles my feathers are articles about bird flu and/or pandemic flu, published by respectable news organizations, sometimes written by supposed "experts", that give the public misleading or false information. The worst offenders are often people with specific agendas. I mentioned the other day how poultry farmers in this ( Read more... )

NY Times: Human Flu Transfers May Exceed Reports. (BugMeNot NYT logins)

The numbers are still relatively small, and they do not mean that the virus has mutated to pass easily between people - a change that could touch off a worldwide epidemic. All the clusters of cases have been among relatives or in nurses who were in long, close contact with ( Read more... )

WHO: Indonesian bird flu cluster may be human-to-human-to-human spread.

The large cluster of human cases of H5N1 avian flu being investigated in Indonesia may represent the first time the virus has been seen to ignite two successive waves of human-to-human spread, the World Health Organization said Tuesday ( Read more... )

Via Aetiology and Dave Letterman.
Top Ten Features Of President Bush's Bird Flu Pandemic Plan

10. Hang "Mission Accomplished" sign in every Kentucky Fried Chicken

9. Torture some Perdue employees until they talk

8. Scare birds away with giant radioactive kitties

7. Be on the lookout for any bird which looks "fluey"

6. Build wall along border ( Read more... )

First off, although it's not confirmed, the Bangkok Post is reporting that there are 162 Suspected Human Cases of Bird Flu in Kurdistan. It's worth stating that this is just what the Bangkok Post is reporting that al-Hayat is reporting, and a patient being admitted as a suspected case is a long way from being a confirmed case. However, with the ( Read more... )