RE: chicken little Flu Pandemic???

[Guest guest]

I've seen multiple reports on this. This seems to be one of those " the sky is

falling "

stories (pandemic?) where the story is couched in worst case scenarios and

there's little

that the average reader should do. Unless they happen to be traveling in regions

of SE

Asia, or involved in the poultry trade.

I don't mean to belittle that there are reportedly humans dead from this,

but AFAIK this is not an immediate concern for the majority of us. The

appropriate

agencies are hopefully aware and on the case.

If you want something extra to stress about, how much food or drink have you

consumed in the last week that you don't know 100% of the ingredient list?

Since I have limited faith in my ability to make the healthiest choices, I have

lower expectations that my health concerns will be satisfied by commercial

foods.

JR

-----Original Message-----

From: Francesca Skelton [mailto:fskelton@...]

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 12:39 PM

support group

Subject: [ ] Bird Flu Pandemic???

Anyone listening to the news lately must be hearing about the fear of a bird

flu pandemic. So far 45 Asians have died of this. Apparently the death

rate is very high. There is no vaccine yet. The fear is that the flu will

mutate to be " catchable " from person to person - so far those that have

caught it have gotten it from birds.

We first posted about this a few months ago.

[Guest guest]

I'm not stressing about it.

But I do think there will always be new diseases such AIDS, SARS, potent

flus, etc to take the place of those that we conquer. And I find the

subject fascinatiing.

One of the reasons why I don't think immortality will ever happen.

on 2/23/2005 2:27 PM, at crjohnr@... wrote:

> I've seen multiple reports on this. This seems to be one of those " the sky is

> falling "

> stories (pandemic?) where the story is couched in worst case scenarios and

> there's little

> that the average reader should do. Unless they happen to be traveling in

> regions of SE

> Asia, or involved in the poultry trade.

>

> I don't mean to belittle that there are reportedly humans dead from this,

> but AFAIK this is not an immediate concern for the majority of us. The

> appropriate

> agencies are hopefully aware and on the case.

>

> If you want something extra to stress about, how much food or drink have you

> consumed in the last week that you don't know 100% of the ingredient list?

>

> Since I have limited faith in my ability to make the healthiest choices, I

> have

> lower expectations that my health concerns will be satisfied by commercial

> foods.

>

> JR

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Francesca Skelton [mailto:fskelton@...]

> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 12:39 PM

> support group

> Subject: [ ] Bird Flu Pandemic???

>

>

>

> Anyone listening to the news lately must be hearing about the fear of a bird

> flu pandemic. So far 45 Asians have died of this. Apparently the death

> rate is very high. There is no vaccine yet. The fear is that the flu will

> mutate to be " catchable " from person to person - so far those that have

> caught it have gotten it from birds.

>

> We first posted about this a few months ago.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I too have a passing interest the Flu. The pandemic of 1917(?) was not cured.

It just faded away... but yes there are many ways to die, and new ones coming.

I suspect this all part of the evolutionary fabric that formed us.

So wash your hands, especially if handling fowl from SE Asia. :-)

JR

-----Original Message-----

From: Francesca Skelton [mailto:fskelton@...]

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 2:01 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] chicken little Flu Pandemic???

I'm not stressing about it.

But I do think there will always be new diseases such AIDS, SARS, potent

flus, etc to take the place of those that we conquer. And I find the

subject fascinatiing.

One of the reasons why I don't think immortality will ever happen.

on 2/23/2005 2:27 PM, at crjohnr@... wrote:

> I've seen multiple reports on this. This seems to be one of those " the sky is

> falling "

> stories (pandemic?) where the story is couched in worst case scenarios and

> there's little

> that the average reader should do. Unless they happen to be traveling in

> regions of SE

> Asia, or involved in the poultry trade.

>

> I don't mean to belittle that there are reportedly humans dead from this,

> but AFAIK this is not an immediate concern for the majority of us. The

> appropriate

> agencies are hopefully aware and on the case.

>

> If you want something extra to stress about, how much food or drink have you

> consumed in the last week that you don't know 100% of the ingredient list?

>

> Since I have limited faith in my ability to make the healthiest choices, I

> have

> lower expectations that my health concerns will be satisfied by commercial

> foods.

>

> JR

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> I've seen multiple reports on this. This seems to be one of those " the sky

> is falling "

> stories (pandemic?) where the story is couched in worst case scenarios and

> there's little

> that the average reader should do.

Apparently, there's genuine cause for you to revise your estimate of the

potential virulence of this particular strain of influenza and the real risk

it

represents; human beings have no natural immunity to this virus and it's

quite deadly when humans manage to contract it.

So far, most transmissions have been directly from chickens to humans, but

the fear is the virus will mutate into a strain that's easily contagious

from

person to person. In fact, there's some evidence that the virus may have

already developed at least some ability to pass from person to person.

Serious and knowlegeable people have been worrying about this for a while

now.

>Unless they happen to be traveling in regions of SE

>Asia, or involved in the poultry trade.

Only if you presume that the virus will never develop the ability to pass

from person to person - and apparently that's less than likely. Otherwise,

it'll become a global phenomenon like all the influenzas have been.

> I don't mean to belittle that there are reportedly humans dead from this,

> but AFAIK this is not an immediate concern for the majority of us.

I don't think anyone's saying it's an *immediate* concern, but the smart

money is quite anxious that it soon could be.

> The appropriate

> agencies are hopefully aware and on the case.

They are - and they're sweating bullets over it.

Al

[Guest guest]

I too have been following this story as it developed over the last few years. I

still

do not see any CR or immediate personal health relevance. I apologize to any who

look to

this list as a sole source of world news.

Perhaps this is in the news because of the Bird Flu Summit that just began today

in

Hanoi, Viet Nam where some of the first (human) deaths occurred. It has also

been all over the

business news today as the handful of drug companies who are already working on

vaccines

jumped on the free publicity.

If I am out of sync with the direction of this list, mea culpa. I believe there

are plenty

of every day decisions that will have a real impact on our future health that

would be better

use of our personal attention span.

Now for a huge stretch to bring this almost on topic, this could be considered a

very remote

rationale to not allow your %BF to get too low, since if you become sick you may

need to call

upon adipose stores for energy and perhaps even fat soluble vitamins therein.

I too hope the folks we pay to worry about these things are not only on the case

but perhaps

a little smarter from mistakes and missteps made in the handling of similar

infectious outbreaks from

that region over the last few years.

JR

-----Original Message-----

From: Al Young [mailto:acyoung@...]

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 4:38 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] chicken little Flu Pandemic???

>

> I've seen multiple reports on this. This seems to be one of those " the sky

> is falling "

> stories (pandemic?) where the story is couched in worst case scenarios and

> there's little

> that the average reader should do.

Apparently, there's genuine cause for you to revise your estimate of the

potential virulence of this particular strain of influenza and the real risk

it

represents; human beings have no natural immunity to this virus and it's

quite deadly when humans manage to contract it.

So far, most transmissions have been directly from chickens to humans, but

the fear is the virus will mutate into a strain that's easily contagious

from

person to person. In fact, there's some evidence that the virus may have

already developed at least some ability to pass from person to person.

Serious and knowlegeable people have been worrying about this for a while

now.

>Unless they happen to be traveling in regions of SE

>Asia, or involved in the poultry trade.

Only if you presume that the virus will never develop the ability to pass

from person to person - and apparently that's less than likely. Otherwise,

it'll become a global phenomenon like all the influenzas have been.

> I don't mean to belittle that there are reportedly humans dead from this,

> but AFAIK this is not an immediate concern for the majority of us.

I don't think anyone's saying it's an *immediate* concern, but the smart

money is quite anxious that it soon could be.

> The appropriate

> agencies are hopefully aware and on the case.

They are - and they're sweating bullets over it.

Al