Monday, October 10, 2005

We're all going to die from the bird flu. But in good news, Europe is banning a lot of bird imports from places where bird flu has been seen. However, a US expert notes that we don't have enough vaccine for the population of the US. Poverty is fanning the problem in Asia, also, but at least most of the countries have some sort of plan in place, mostly involving slaughtering birds and stocking up on Tamiflu. Some drugs that could help were not developed far enough to see if they would be really effective because flu drugs were not very profitable. I think we should invest more in public medical research. According the article linked above, the US government plans to have enough Tamiflu to treat about 4 million people. The price of chicken in the UK seems to have risen. Chicken to me seems to be the cheapest meat. Will the poor in the US need to rely on rice and beans for protein? I have no idea. Apparently our current vaccine is not expected to be effective against the bird flu, and apparently the military will enforce mass quarantines if it has to. I am not sure if that is a very good idea, and here is an opinion article about it. I'm also curious about Bush's plan to get care for the flu to the poor. So that's all I have learned about the bird flu by searching on google news. But remember to explore the CDC's avian flu site for more information on how we are all going to die.

No comments: