I'm obsessed with pig flu. Like, no one has explained how it got from pigs to humans. They explain how it mutated. But not how we got it from pigs. Pig sneezes? "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
I'm obsessed with pig flu. Like, no one has explained how it got from pigs to humans. They explain how it mutated.
...
When I think of bird flu, I think of birds getting sick, not humans. But no one is talking about pigs getting sick now. Just people.
Sometimes my cat and I get sick at the same time... Cat flu? "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
I haven't heard much about bird flu in America, so I guess I've not given it any thought.
Bird flu, by the way, is still infecting humans...
WHO | Avian influenza
WHO is coordinating the global response to human cases of H5N1 avian influenza and monitoring the corresponding threat of an influenza pandemic. Information on this page tracks the evolving situation and provides access to both technical guidelines and information useful for the general public.
the US government stockpiled tamiflu and vaccines in preparation for a bird flu pandemic that never came.
I remember considerable speculation that all of the flu scares at the turn of the millennium were ginned up by Roche to encourage sales of their market leading drug (Tamiflu) before it went out of copyright.
It has gone quiet on the flu front for a few years really, compared to the endless hype back then, and now we're getting something that might be a genuine problem. Roche must be distraught they can't clean up cos it's out of copyright now. keep to the Fen Causeway
Concern swine flu may be Tamiflu resistant | Otago Daily Times Online
Two New Zealanders expert in genetic shifts and mutations of influenza strains say there is a risk that the swine flu virus spreading out of Mexico may acquire resistance to Tamiflu.
The strain of bird flu which has caused scores of human deaths in South East Asia in recent years is a different strain to that responsible for the current outbreak of swine flu. The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1. Experts fear H5N1 hold the potential to trigger a pandemic because of its ability to mutate rapidly. However, up until now it has remained very much a disease of birds. Those humans who have been infected have, without exception, worked closely with birds, and cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare - there is no suggestion that H5N1 has gained the ability to pass easily from person to person.
The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1.
Experts fear H5N1 hold the potential to trigger a pandemic because of its ability to mutate rapidly.
However, up until now it has remained very much a disease of birds.
Those humans who have been infected have, without exception, worked closely with birds, and cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare - there is no suggestion that H5N1 has gained the ability to pass easily from person to person.
I'm not sure it's an apt comparison. "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
What other kinds of flu are there? Bear flu? Platypus flu? Hippo flu? Capybara flu?
Bear flu?
By the way, is Bear Flu kosher? Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
I suppose it would be an apt irony if the US were laid low by its own pork.
The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
