Find Out THe Latest Bird Flu News

In the wake of some of the most horrific bird flu pandemics in the history of civilization, news has spread from nation to nation like wildfire. People are starting to feel a sense of fear that maybe there is a possibility that an epidemic could occur in their town or city. The latest bird flu news has been that many countries in the region of South East Asia are still under risk of another outbreak. Many nations have taken the liberty of culling hundreds of thousands of birds so as to attempt to put a stop to this deadly virus.

Some other bird flu news comes out of Africa where in Nigeria 700,000 birds have been culled since the latest outbreak earlier this year. The cost of undertaking such a massive termination of poultry has reportedly cost the country nearly 4.5 million, making it one of the most expensive culls in history. Many experts believe that the termination of this many birds was in fact unnecessary and in doing so could actually cause more problems for the country in terms of increased food shortages in the already poverty-stricken nation.

Previous bird flu news has been that Indonesia says it will separate poultry farms from residential areas as a move to prevent anymore dangerous outbreaks in the future. Many people say that this will not fully remove the threat of further epidemics in the country as the poor nation struggles through yet another tough disease stricken year. It's estimated that many more Indonesian's will loose their lives in over the next few years as a result of bird flu despite attempts to bring the virus under control.

In more lightened news of bird flu, the European Union has recently begun efforts to supply many countries who are suffering endemics, fresh medical supplies as a attempt to end one of the longest standing influenza epidemics the world has ever seen. Many people are skeptical at this attempt and believe that an even larger effort must be taken if humanity id ever going to be free of this devastating disease.

Other bird flu news is that experts are suggesting that China is the country at most risk of the next bird flu epidemic and says that more caution should be taken when introducing poultry to consumers from now on. Many Asian countries export chicken and other poultry products back and forth and China accepts many nation's chicken do to it's high demand to feed the most populated country in the world.

Please stay in touch as we bring you more bird flu news in the coming weeks. We hope this information has enlightened you a little on this horrifying subject and perhaps changed your view on recent events.

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The Blessings Bird Flu Can Bring Us - if We're Smart

Not long ago, I read an article about alternative health where someone with a serious disease was counseled to look upon it as a "blessing."

Your first reaction is probably the same as mine was -- what a stupid idea! How can cancer or heart disease be a blessing?

First off, let me say that I do believe that humanity's greatest strength is the ability to persevere in the face of problems and to turn negatives into positives -- lemons into lemonade.

So if you believe, as alternative health advocates do, that you do have some control over your health -- then any disease indicates that you need to make some kind of change in your life.

That may be a change in diet, reducing stress, etc. -- but if you can learn the lesson before the "teacher" disease kills you, you'll be healthier for having had the problem.

As I write, over 150 people have died from bird flu from Indonesia to Turkey -- to alert humanity to the danger it's facing. We cannot raise them from the dead, but we can attempt to give meaning to their death by learning how to prevent more, and thereby making bird flu a blessing for survivors and our children.

The first step was taken about 1 year ago by President George W. Bush. As part of his request to Congress for 7 billion dollars to fight bird flu, he wants to advance the technology of making vaccines so that they can be created and manufactured more quickly.

Companies around the world are working on a "generic" influenza vaccine that will prepare our immune systems to protect us from all influenza viruses no matter how much they mutate in the future.

Those of us who live in the developed world must stop being so complacent.

Because long after bird flu is a boring chapter in history, we will be threatened by new diseases.

Most Americans have heard of Ebola, but are not aware of the many other emerging diseases we have discovered in the past 20 to 30 years. It's a long and scary list.

And although they all seem remote from us, they're all just one international jet flight away. They're no more remote than West Nile fever was before it started killing birds and people in Brooklyn in 1999.

We need to take care of our immune systems.

We need to better track viral infections in people. The developed world needs to make its expertise and resources available, and the developing world needs to make public healthcare and a medical infrastructure a higher priority.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control has done a terrific job at this for many years. It needs to expand its operations, the UN World Health Organization needs to expand and national health systems around the world need to do a better job of tracking and controlling disease threats.

We need to do a much better job of incorporating alternative health methods into standard medical care.

We need to stop counting on Tamiflu and start expanding the use of Vitamin C (especially injected ascorbate for serious illnesses), curcumin, garlic, beta glucans and other supplements from mushrooms . . . for starters.

For poor countries it makes economic sense to make use of regional herbs and supplements over expensive drugs such as Tamiflu.

Also, a massive demand for effective herbs and substances should spur farmers in the developing world to raise those herbs in a sustainable fashion.

This would encourage good use of land and also bring cash income to the poor farmers, everybody else involved in the processing and shipping of the supplements and their communities.

The human race has survived and prospered by learning from its mistakes. A lot of people are going to die for the lessons we learn from the bird flu pandemic -- let's learn and apply as many of those lessons as possible.

We owe that to the dead and to our children.

c 2006 by Richard Stooker Richard shows you how to avoid avian bird flu in How to Protect Yourself and Your Family From Asian Bird Flu -- And check out his Asian Bird Flu blog

Here's The Truth On The Bird Flu Virus

Bird Flu is its common name, which is a specific strain of an influenza virus. Scientists have dubbed this flu: H5N1. The origin of this flu began in birds, and ONLY birds have been hit hard by this so far. Millions of birds have perished because of this disease starting in China, then onto Southeast Asia, Russia, Africa and Europe. The spread of this flu is a result of birds migrating to those areas of the world. The governments of those regions have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of birds in an effort to prevent the spread of the Bird Flu Virus.

The only way a human can get the Bird Flu Virus (as it stands right now) is if they have come in close, physical contact with an infected bird. A person CANNOT get it from another human. When was the last time you came in close, physical contact with a live bird? Let alone, a bird that is infected with H5N1. In the last 10 years, only 207 people worldwide have been infected with the Bird Flu Virus. Sadly, 115 of those infected have died. Let's look at these figures for a moment, 207 people in the entire world, out of a population of more than Six Point Five BILLION people on earth. More people within a 100-mile radius of you had a car accident today, than the entire amount of those infected with the Bird Flu Virus. It's a very good bet that you aren't freaked out about wadding up your car anytime soon. So why is everyone freaking out over the Bird Flu Virus?

The top disease experts in the world have stated that it takes weeks and months for a flu-like virus to spread. Scientists are way ahead of the curve when it comes to prevention of even the worst-case scenario. Like the one that ABC-TV tried to shove down our throat with it's.. "We're All Gonna Die"... movie called: "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" portraying a bird flu pandemic rampaging across the United States.

If the Bird Flu Virus does make a jump into the human population, the first thing our government would do, is to contain the outbreak. By that, I DON'T mean that you should make a run to your local Home Depot and buy rolls and rolls of plastic to seal up your house. (remember the Anthrax scare, a few years ago?) And then start eating handfuls of Tamiflu: The #1 doctor-prescribed flu medicine What they would suggest is that you stay home and take an antibiotic, so that you wouldn't spread your flu to other people you come in contact with. Pretty much like you have done most of your life, get the flu, stay home and take medicine until you are better.

Quarantines, vaccine shortages, mass graves, mass hysteria and our elected officials hiding in a bunker, as a result of someone that fondled a sick chicken. It isn't gonna happen. However, if you are obsessed with Bird Flu Virus, the website listed below contains a library of free information on this topic. You just might find the exact details about H5N1 that you've been looking for.

Bird Flu Virus 411 - http://www.birdfluvirus411.com is a website with a wealth of information for treatment of the bird flu virus, bird flu virus and Tamiflu links, bird flu RSS feeds, bird flu virus articles, and more!

Bird Flu Explained

Bird Flu or more correctly, avian flu, is much in the news and causing a lot of anxiety. Many people are worried that they may get it, and the papers are full of horror scenarios.

There are over 100 strains of avian flu, but most of them do not infect humans. The current strain H5N1 can infect humans, but not easily. The number of cases of avian flu in humans in the current outbreak is very small, and almost all have come about by direct contact with infected or dead birds ? something that most of us are unlikely to experience. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. In fact according to The Times (London, 23rd March 2006) only 184 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide so far from this strain, with 103 deaths. These have been in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and most recently, several cases in Turkey.

What the authorities are much more concerned about is the strain mutating into a variation that can be transmitted between human beings, rather than just from bird to human. This has been designated as influenza A/H5N1. Humans do not have any resistance to this strain, because these viruses do not commonly infect humans. If a strain developed that could infect the human population, a pandemic would be likely with many people being infected and dying. The 1918 ?Spanish flu? is estimated to have killed 50 million people worldwide. At least four of the eight genes of H5N1 avian flu now contain mutations seen in that deadly strain.

Jeffery K. Taubenberger, a molecular pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville, USA has said:

"These H5N1 viruses might be acquiring the ability to adapt to humans, increasing their pandemic risk ... there is a suggestion there may be some parallel evolution going on."

Scientists still do not understand completely how a bird virus becomes a human virus, but H5N1 is already showing some of the mutations necessary for it to become a human flu, but at the moment, in spite off all the panic, there is no pandemic flu strain.

Research in the Netherlands and the USA has shown that while human influenza viruses are able to bind with receptors in the windpipe, H5N1 binds only much deeper inside the lungs. This makes it more difficult for the virus to infect humans, because the virus is less likely to reach the inner lungs than the windpipe. The H5N1 virus is also less likely to spread from human to human. Coughing and sneezing easily transmits viruses that have multiplied in the windpipe, but not those located deep in the lungs. If H5N1 manages to mutate so that it can replicate in the upper respiratory tract, a pandemic becomes more likely. Scientists are constantly monitoring the virus for this mutation.

So should we be concerned? There have been many scares over the years that have not come to anything, and this could turn out to be one of those too, but it is worth taking some sensible precautions rather than just relying on the scientists to find a powerful enough solution. Having a strong immune system has to be the first line of defence. Eating a good diet, taking exercise, getting plenty of sleep, and reducing stress can all lead to a stronger immune system that can fight more effectively against the bugs of this world and any dangerous mutations.

References:
Daily News Central: Bird Flu on Similar Evolutionary Path as 1918 Killer Virus

Centers For Disease Control & Prevention: Key Facts About Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) and Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus

The Times (London) 21 January 2006 and 23 March 2006

The Guardian (London) 1 March 2006

Jane Thurnell-Read delights in making information on health more understandable and accessible. Visit her web site http://www.healthandgoodness.com for more ideas and information.

7 Things You Can Do To Prevent Bird Flu [Virus Protection]

Everyday we hear about it. The GREAT Avian Flu PANDEMIC is upon us. But remember the 1918 Spanish Flu or the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 [which came from chickens] only killed 40 million people. So we don't need to worry.

Wait a minute! ONLY 40 million people died. That's terrible. Especially if we were among the 40 million.

But they didn't have a vaccine like we have. What? We don't have a vaccine either?

Well the experts say we WILL have one. About a year AFTER the Avian Flu hits.

Will the Bird Flu hit us? Chances are moderate to high.

Well what can we do to prevent getting it?

1. If the flu travels from people to people, stay away from people. Avoid subways, buses, theaters, and other places where people gather in large numbers.

2. Don't shake hands. This is where most people catch viruses. They shake the hand of someone who is infected and then pick their own nose and voila, they have the flu. Use the old ?Peace Sign? instead of shaking hands.

3. Wash your hands a lot with a sanitizing soap. I like the soap put out by the Melaleuca company.

4. Don't pick your nose. That is the main entrance into your body. Your Momma told you this when you were a kid. Smart lady.

5. If the Pandemic gets going, wear a surgical mask when around people. Don't use anything you get off the grocery shelf. Most are so full of dangerous chemicals and may be worse than the Bird Flu.

6. Take a Grapefruit Seed Extract each day. We use a mixture of GSE and several other citrus extracts. These have been known for decades to stop viruses inside the body. And unlike pharmaceuticals they have a low cost which keeps drug
companies from messing it up.

7. Use a botanical spray to kill any viruses on the surfaces you touch. I like sprays with Tea Tree Oil or Grapefruit Seed Extract.

Think this sounds like too much trouble or is too sissified? Then don't do it. After the Plaque of 1666 the people who survived inherited the wealth of those who died. If you live you might become very wealthy. If you don't, your relatives might get really wealthy.

For 30 years, Dr Graham has been helping people treat and prevent disease by showing them how to create a healthy healing world. DrGraham@themoldlab.com newsletter at AmericanEcoDog-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://www.tennesseemold.com

Bird Flu-worst-case Scenario

There has been a lot of buzz about bird flu or the avian influenza and how it could become a global pandemic. What would a pandemic really mean? The federal government just launched a 7 billion dollar program to help the prevention and out break of a bird flu pandemic. There have only been 83 deaths from avian flu worldwide since 2003. Health experts have not yet seen evidence of human to human transmission. So what does it mean? And why is everyone so worried about a pandemic?

This new strain of flu virus would be more resistant than other normal flu strains and if it turns into a form that passes easily from person to person, we would have little immunity to it. Millions could become ill and millions would die. Once it starts to spread it could move rapidly around the world infecting millions and affecting the lives of everyone. The World Bank, which has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year could, cost the global economy up to $800 billion. The economic toll on the world economy will be catastrophic. What is the worst-case scenario and how might it develop?

Here is how a bird flu pandemic might unfold:

Outbreaks of avian flu in birds continue in several additional countries outside of Southeast Asia including Russia, Africa and the Middle East

Human cases of bird flu increase

Health experts confirm first human-to-human transmissions

Flu screening is stepped up at airports around the world for passengers coming from infected countries

Health care workers show signs of increased exposure

Air travel spreads virus to all corners of the globe within 3 months

First confirmed human transmission cases appear in Europe Russia, and the United States

Outbreaks continue, becoming more widespread reaching epidemic status

Regional stockpiles of antivirals quickly dwindle, new high volume production and distribution is 6 months off

International flights are reduced or eliminated to help contain spread of the flu

Billions are lost on international commerce, affecting millions of jobs around the world

US imports from Asian factories halted as Asian workers fall ill, US inventories drop
International trade devastated

US economy feels effects of loss of productivity due to millions of workers out sick

Financial markets hit by panic selling, gold prices soar

Run on banks as investors convert to cash

Hospitals see surge in flu patients overwhelming staff and supplies, only those most likely to live given access to limited available ventilators

Healthcare workers and first responders out sick or stay home to care for ill family members

Public events are canceled and schools are closed

Government offices closed, non essential services shut down

Social services reduced or eliminated. Services still functioning are overwhelmed

Public transportation halted

Air traffic halted due to air traffic controllers, airport staff and flight crews out sick

Interstate commerce greatly reduced with truck drivers, warehouse and rail workers out sick

Food deliveries, gas deliveries, other essential supplies all reduced or eliminated

Grocery stores close due to shipments being eliminated

Food distribution chain from farm to stores breaks down

Travel restricted, quarantines mandatory, enforced by National Guard

Widespread looting and riots over food shortages and access to healthcare

Local, State police and National Guard overwhelmed

Social structure breaks down

Domestic violence increases as people are forced to stay home

Loss of workers affects all businesses across the economy, including finance, sanitation, utilities, internet, distribution, energy, retail, tourism and travel

Utility outages increase as coal shipments are reduced and minimum required staffs at power plants and water plants are out sick

Funeral homes are overwhelmed as bodies stack up

2nd wave of pandemic bird flu hits

Global economy will take years to recover from catastrophic losses and loss of trained employees who died

Does the above scare you? Think it won't happen? Well this is the exact scenario your local, state and federal governments are training and planning for. How would you survive? It has always been recommended to keep 3 days of supplies on hand to survive a natural disaster. We have seen how the federal government handles natural disasters. The above scenario isn?t for 3 days or 3 weeks. It might last up to 3 years.

How would you survive being housebound for several months? What if you couldn't go to work or to the grocery store? What if you had love ones that were sick? You need to stay informed about a possible bird flu pandemic and learn how to provide for yourself and your family. It may not happen in the near future but health experts agree it will happen. It is just a matter of time.

Visit the Bird Flu Index http://www.birdfluindex.com for comprenehsive information on bird flu and avian influenza pandemic information. Visit the Pandemic Zone http://pandemiczone.blogspot.com for breaking pandemic news.

The Situation With Vaccines For Bird Flu and Other Types of Flu

With everyone on the brink of panic regarding a bird flu pandemic, many are wondering if a vaccine has been developed and if not, why it has not. Vaccines have become a common and widely accepted way of dealing with various viral infections. Unfortunately, this is not yet a valid option for bird flu.

The primary reason an effective vaccine has not been developed for the strain of bird flu causing so much concern is simply lack of time. The process of vaccine development is long and arduous. The virus must be researched on a molecular level in order to create an effective vaccine. Although bird flu was first identified in 1997, the real concern for the disease did not come about until 2004, with the first real outbreak of the virus. Therefore, less than two years has been available to research and develop a vaccine. While vaccines have been developed, they are still in trial phases and hope to be complete soon.

To understand the other significant reasoning, you must first understand a little about bird flu and the threat it carries. As of yet, the virus is not a global, imminent concern. The reason for this is that the virus is now only transmittable through poultry and is not passed through human to human contact. Although many people have died, it is still primarily an Asian and European disease and has not reached pandemic proportions. However, that is likely to change soon.

As time goes on, the virus is mutating and is expected to become transmittable through human contact. When this happens, it will very likely spread quickly and devastatingly throughout all regions of the world.

Therefore, the second reason a vaccine has not yet been developed is due to the mutation of the virus. As of yet, the concern regarding the virus is not as drastic as it will be once mutation is complete. If mutation occurs, a vaccine will be essential to control the spread of the virus. However, a vaccine can not be developed to avoid the new version of the virus until it actually mutates. Any vaccine created before then will be useless on the mutated form of the virus as the molecular basis of the disease will change, altering the effectiveness of a vaccine.

It is believed that much of the groundwork has been completed for the mutated virus vaccine, but until mutation occurs, there will be no way of knowing its effectiveness.

Sarah is an acclaimed writer on medical matters, and has written extensively on the subjects of Attention Deficit Disorder, Bird Flu and Cohn's Disease. For more of her articles, go to http://www.imedicalvillage.com now.