As always, well reasoned advice.

Except the part about Domino's.

just last week i gave a speech on avian flu.
what it runs down to is this.
once infected you have at most 72 hours to be treated after the first 72 your chances of survival go down dramatically.
treatment/prevention with tamiflu or relenza.
cost of treatment per person per week. $105
just a basic run down hope it helps

Here is a pretty darn good document that explains the history of flu epidemics along with preventitive & supportive measures for flu patients:

http://fluwikie.com/uploads/Consequences/NewGuideOct5.pdf

Good to see you here, BigAssDiesel! BAD and I are stowaways from the LightFighter EMS forum.

The risk for us here is low, meaning very few if any cases will occur. On the other hand, tens of thousands will die from the influenza virus (not avian).

When referring to the current avian flu circulating mostly in Southest Asia, I totally agree with jshannon's points. If the current strain somehow got to the United States (I assume that's the "here" referred to), there would be few human cases. Might have to kill a few million chickens, though, if it got into our poultry population.

However, let's not forget that not even the experts can predict what the next global pandemic flu strain will be, or even where it will emerge. The current H5N1 strain that worries experts will likely give rise to the next pandemic strain, but maybe not. A different strain, not really on anyone's radar, could also mutate into a highly lethal, highly infectious strain and catch everyone off guard.

jshannon's comment also seems to assume that the next pandemic will come from Asia. Again, highly likely, but not guaranteed. Geneticists believe the Spanish Flu originated in the midwest of the United States. There are plenty of American poultry farms where influenza exists and which could potentially be the biological mixing bowl where the next pandemic strain is created. In the past couple decades, there have already been a number of mass cullings of American poultry to stop influenza outbreaks among the animals.

Practically speaking, all it takes is for a single human with a mild flu to contract avian flu, genetic material is swapped between the flu strains, and suddenly we could have the next Spanish Flu. The chances of creating a lethal human pandemic strain is very, very low, but this sort of human-bird contact happens all the time, particularly in Asia, so it's really only a matter of time until you roll a hard six and unleash the next monster flu.

I don't mean to be overly alarmist because as I said, I agree with jshannon's opinion that our current risk in the US is low if we're talking about the current avian flu out there right now. But the conditions in the next pandemic situation could turn out to be very different from the current state of affairs and everything that the experts and politicians have been saying about the curent avian flu could turn out to be not applicable.

And like jshannon said, even if there's a pandemic, many people will still be dying of the garden variety flu, so try to keep the danger in perspective.

And if a flu pandemic does break out, it is even more important than ever to get a flu shot because it will help minimize regular flu in the population. Quick and accurate case identification is probably THE most crucial phase of any outbreak scenario from the public health perspective, so the less normal flu around, the easier it will be to track a pandemic strain. I know we've had some discussion of the pros and cons recently about flu shots on this forum, but for the vast majority of people, it's a net benefit. Although older people may not derive as much protection as younger people from actually contracting the garden variety flu, the chance of hospitalization and mortality for older folks is much lower if you've been vaccinated with the current flu shot. So, for those of you who grumble that you contracted the flu even after getting a flu shot, it still might have saved your life or at least kept you out of the hospital and you just don't know it.

After reading this thread and seeing all the coverage in the media, I can see some good come out of the Avian Flu scare.

For starters it has made some people revue their own health, and theor preparations for what may happen.
Governments are actually doing something to prepare for it. (better than nothing)
Scientists and researchers who have been warning of this for a long time are getting more support and funding.
We all know this will happen one day, just like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes etc.
It may not be this strain of the flu that mutates, or it may not be a flu virus at all, but more of the population are getting informed.

From what I understand, Avian Flu has been found in birds in most states in the U.S., but of the 185 or so human deaths in Asia, most or all of those people were those that handled poultry (it wasn't specified if it was live or slaughtered poultry). It has been passed from bird to human, but not from human to human, and it shouldn't, unless it mutates into a form that CAN.

Just get your flu shot, and remember that only bad news sells advertising, which is why news in any form exists. They wouldn't be getting attention unless they show it as a prospective problem.

Sue

I cant comment on the media in the US, but this mutation is the fear that is covered in ours. (Australia)

On another note.
I think it would also be intersting to find out some statistics out of Africa.
I have a friend who just came back from there and they seem to have a flu like disease running through their poultry. They wont eat infected birds, but some sellers try to sell them.
My friend wasn't allowed to eat poultry untill an experienced guide checked them before slaughter. (the guide ate the same food so it was in his best interest too)
They tell visitors that the chickens have Aids and dont eat them. I think this is because they know that visitors know what Aids is and its the best way of getting their point across the language barrier.

There's another point to consider in the statistics of chance here. One human infected with a human inluenza strain can expose how many birds? It is not just one way. In fact, chickens have a lower immune resistance to disease than humans. The chance that an infected human will cause the mutation by exposing chickens to a human virus is actually probably greater than going the other way. Chickens are not the cleanest animals.