Health Secretary: Risk Of Flu Pandemic 'Very High'

[RedEarth]

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Leading a multinational team of medical experts to mobilize Southeast Asian nations against bird flu, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Monday the likelihood of a flu pandemic in the future is "very high."

Leavitt, accompanied by the director of the World Health Organization and other top health professionals, is visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to seek their collaboration in preparing for the anticipated public health emergency.

In the past 2½ years, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in Southeast Asia, also infecting humans and killing at least 65 people. The virus does not pass from person to person easily, but experts believe this could change if the virus mutates.

Leavitt said there were three influenza pandemics in the last century and "the likelihood of another is very high, some say even certain."


"Whether or not H5N1 is the virus that will ultimately trigger such a pandemic is unknown to us," he said at a news conference. "The probability is uncertain. But the warning signs are troubling. Hence we are responding in a robust way."

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/health/5078507/detail.html

[cassiepriam]

1. Repugs probably planning how to make money on the next tragedy.

This time the drug companies get the huge no bid contracts?

[Timmy5835]

2. Help me to understand

This strain of the Bird Flu has been around for how long now, 9 years and NOW all this recent concern? Somehow, something smells a little.

[cassiepriam]

5. Yes the timing is so interesting, don't you think?

Repugs can distract us from their troubles and drug companies
get their payola. Win win for the bad guys. Of course as usual,
the rest of us are out of luck.

[John Q. Citizen]

7. This might help you to understand....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4971678

[Delphinus]

11. Thank you!

Excellent thread.

[Journeyman]

12. Thanks, JQ. . . I missed that when it was posted . . .

I look forward to reading it . . .

[nodehopper]

16. the fact that WHO is freaking out about this

and not just the BushCo and Bush-funding-dependent CDC makes me take it seriously.

[pinto]

3. Oh, fer crying out loud. Alarmism doesn't make good public health policy.

Neither does polticizing it.

(aside) We could use an administration that appoints appropriate and qualified people to cabinet posts.

http://www.hhs.gov/about/bios/dhhssec.html

[kostya]

4. Plamegate? Abramoffgate? Delaygate? Hey, quick look over

there: avian flu!! Ooohhh, I'm scared witless again. Same ol' tactic, FUD and distract the ADD'red public. - K

:mad:

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. So what do you advocate as policy? Stick your head in sand? Brownie FEMA?

[Timmy5835]

9. First off......

You don't scare the public. You give them pro-active information. Has any of this really happened yet? NO.

[Birthmark]

8. This is great news!

If the hack that Bush appointed thinks that there's a high likelihood of a pandemic, then there's virtually no chance of a pandemic at all!!! :)

[Deja Q]

10. Scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare

scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare scare

Americans, grow the fuck up. We all die at some point. LIVE while you can and enjoy it. Stop thinking of what will happen tomorrow. Why? Because, chances are, it's gonna happen. You are not immortal. Neither am I. None of us is. So enjoy it. And at age 74 with all those aches and pains and no brains to figure it out which means you'd make an ideal president, surely you'd want "out" too?

[Eurobabe]

13. Why? 'They' have it and they're going to unleash it on us?

and I don't mean the terra'rist. I mean Bu$hCO

[mdelaguna2000]

14. ummm... not alarmism

Geez.

The same people that criticize the administration for warning about this would also be the same who would accuse them of suppressing information about it if they had said less before it came out. AS to the timing... it IS flu season. While I often side with those who see most things as "political" - I stop when it comes to flu warnings.

Some of us have been following this closely for over a year. Read - there is widely available info on this.

What we should be criticizing them for is: not enough Tamiflu being stockpiled, and not making the vaccine the # 1 priority for the world right now.

[Bridget Burke]

15. There is a middle ground....

Between "that flu story is all fake" & "scream, scream, send in the army!"

Avian flu has been around a while, as you said. More research is needed. And the public health system needs improvement--even if there's no Bird Pandemic, emergencies & disasters have ways of happening.

Not to mention that too many people can't get decent health care in "normal" times. OK, I mentioned it! While I'm at it, I'll mention the shortage of "regular" flu vaccine last year.

[OzarkDem]

17. What's the story on Tamiflu?

If, as is reported, Tamiflue works against the human and avian H5N1 virus, why is there a push to develop a new vaccine?

Is Tamiflu really effective or is that just pharma company marketing?

[angryxyouth]

18. This is another reason why this administration is so dangerous

In short
"The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf"
If we can't trust our government to alert us to dangers, then we will all get eaten by the wolf.:yoiks:

[PassingFair]

19. It's the timing that pisses ME off...

Why wait until we're in the thick of flu season to "popularize" the avian flu threat?

TERRA TERRA TERRA!