The Tao of Bird Flu
9. With scores of people dead so far, H5N1 is not just a bird flu anymore.
Date with an iceberg
Ok, I think we need to start talking about where bird flu is now, and how it is spreading. Just in the news yesterday we had bird flu flaring up in China, spreading in Nigeria, showing up in Greece, reappearing in Bulgaria, infecting two women in Indonesia, and this was just on one news day. I didn’t even mention Iraq, Vietnam, Romania, or Turkey. It seems to me that we have a situation here that is getting out of hand. It certainly doesn’t seem that we are controlling the spread of bird flu. And if there is so much bird flu that we know about, what about all the bird flu that we don’t know about? I’m sure that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Is the world headed for a collision with the part of the iceberg that we don’t see? Maybe. In fact I would venture to say probably. It was bad enough that bird flu was in China, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia. It was bad enough when it spread to Eastern Europe. But now it has been found in Africa. Is anyone looking for a good outcome from that discovery? Nope.
I was just remembering that I mentioned Africa on January 19, and cited this article. On February 3 I mentioned Africa again, and cited this article. I think we’re in the middle of something here folks, and it’s only going to get worse.
See, this is one reason why a hands-off policy toward poverty is not right. With poverty comes squalor. With squalor comes disease. With disease comes a pandemic. And don’t think we in the United States will be immune. We weren’t immune during the last pandemic, and we could suffer serious losses, both in terms of life and in terms of our economy (which are two things that most Americans take seriously, even if they don’t care about the rest of the world) during the next (or current?) pandemic.
(Note: Today bird flu is reported to have popped up in Azerbaijan. Sooner or later someone is going to connect all these dots, and it won't be a pretty picture.)
Tags: bird flu, avian flu, pandemic, H5N1, flu, influenza, health, politics,
Also check here for The Tao of Love.
9. With scores of people dead so far, H5N1 is not just a bird flu anymore.
Date with an iceberg
Ok, I think we need to start talking about where bird flu is now, and how it is spreading. Just in the news yesterday we had bird flu flaring up in China, spreading in Nigeria, showing up in Greece, reappearing in Bulgaria, infecting two women in Indonesia, and this was just on one news day. I didn’t even mention Iraq, Vietnam, Romania, or Turkey. It seems to me that we have a situation here that is getting out of hand. It certainly doesn’t seem that we are controlling the spread of bird flu. And if there is so much bird flu that we know about, what about all the bird flu that we don’t know about? I’m sure that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Is the world headed for a collision with the part of the iceberg that we don’t see? Maybe. In fact I would venture to say probably. It was bad enough that bird flu was in China, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia. It was bad enough when it spread to Eastern Europe. But now it has been found in Africa. Is anyone looking for a good outcome from that discovery? Nope.
I was just remembering that I mentioned Africa on January 19, and cited this article. On February 3 I mentioned Africa again, and cited this article. I think we’re in the middle of something here folks, and it’s only going to get worse.
See, this is one reason why a hands-off policy toward poverty is not right. With poverty comes squalor. With squalor comes disease. With disease comes a pandemic. And don’t think we in the United States will be immune. We weren’t immune during the last pandemic, and we could suffer serious losses, both in terms of life and in terms of our economy (which are two things that most Americans take seriously, even if they don’t care about the rest of the world) during the next (or current?) pandemic.
(Note: Today bird flu is reported to have popped up in Azerbaijan. Sooner or later someone is going to connect all these dots, and it won't be a pretty picture.)
Tags: bird flu, avian flu, pandemic, H5N1, flu, influenza, health, politics,
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Also check here for The Tao of Love.
posted by Ed Bremson, MFA @ 8:30 AM
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