Re: bird flu has advanced one more step

[Guest guest]

I don't know about prudent but you would certainly beat the rush, and if you

wear it 24x7 it could help cut down

on snacking (see on topic for CR). :-)

Today while out on my 5 mile run I saw a dead bird on the side of the road. I

guess if he flew all the way from SE Asia he probably

could have died from exhaustion.

Not to change the subject, but to interject some reality, I do need to be alert

and reactive to the possibility of contracting West

Nile Virus. It kills birds on our continent, some even in my area over the last

few years and vectors to humans via mosquitoes.

It's OK if you want to worry about avian flu, but don't ignore some real threat

in the meanwhile.

JR

PS: I think I'll pass on the face mask, especially while jogging.

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

From:

[mailto: ]On Behalf Of Mambo Mambo

Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 1:14 PM

Subject: [ ] bird flu has advanced one more step

Hello all,

Wouldn't it be prudent to get some really effective face masks Before the

flu pandemic hits? Get full coverage masks that surgeons use and those that

are OSHA approved:

here is a url that gives some information:

file:///Documents%201(Aug:03)/Medline/masks/facial%20masks.html

The fit around the face has to seal off all particulate matter.

best wishes

MM

[Guest guest]

> Wouldn't it be prudent to get some really effective face masks

Before the

> flu pandemic hits? <snip> MM

Those masks don't work.

Between undergrad and grad school, I spent a few years as an

environmental assessor: a person who evaluates commercial property

prior to purchase for environmental liabilities, like underground

storage tanks, solvent contamination, or the presence of asbestos.

I was trained as an AHERA asbestos management planner. One of the

things they impressed upon us was that surgical masks don't work.

The only things that can filter asbestos fibrils out of the air you

breathe are a respirator, one of those big masks with filters on the

sides, or an SCBA, self-contained breathing apparatus. Those little

cloth masks merely trap whatever is in the air, usually inside the

mask, ensuring that you breathe and rebreathe the contaminant.

As viruses are much smaller than asbestos fibrils, in the case of a

bird flu pandemic, those cloth masks will be as worthless as those

duck-head masks were during the plague pandemics of the Middle Ages.

A better defense during a bird flu pandemic would be to wash your

hands frequently.

Luckily, a bird flu pandemic is still hypothetical. Cancer and

coronary artery disease are far more likely to shorten your life in

the next decade than bird flu.

And what is our best defense against cancer and coronary artery

disease?

CRON and some exercise, anyone?

TK