STORM2K

GalvestonDuck wrote:In the same way we advise people to use the NHC for official info about hurricanes and tropical storms, might I suggest you and anyone else interested in finding out facts about the disease to go to the CDC's site - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/

Do your research there. Ignore urban myths.

Hope that helps.

wxcrazytwo wrote:

GalvestonDuck wrote:In the same way we advise people to use the NHC for official info about hurricanes and tropical storms, might I suggest you and anyone else interested in finding out facts about the disease to go to the CDC's site - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/

Do your research there. Ignore urban myths.

Hope that helps.

I woulnd't call it urban myths. This thing is the real deal. I hear it kills duckies too...

vbhoutex wrote:Duckie, did I hear correctly last night on the news here that a case had been reported in Galveston? If so, was it a person or a bird that had it? I was working on the computer with the tv on in the background.

I don't believe it has reached pandemic proportions anywhere yet, but they fear it will.

vbhoutex wrote:Duckie, did I hear correctly last night on the news here that a case had been reported in Galveston? If so, was it a person or a bird that had it? I was working on the computer with the tv on in the background.

I don't believe it has reached pandemic proportions anywhere yet, but they fear it will.

Newswise — The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health has awarded scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston a $1.4 million contract to study how well antiviral products work to treat or prevent naturally occurring influenza infections—one of them the much-feared H5N1 virus, which often causes lethal disease in infected people.

Since 2004, the H5N1 bird flu strain has killed about half of the more than 100 people it has infected in eight countries of southeastern Asia. However, it does not yet appear to be easily transmitted between people. Nonetheless, scientists fear that it may soon evolve to do so, potentially triggering an extremely deadly global epidemic, known as a pandemic.

If the virus mutates to allow it to be contagious from person to person, “we’re afraid it could be as serious as the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, which is estimated to have killed more than 20 million people worldwide,” said Dr. Slobodan Paessler, project leader for the UTMB flu testing contract. “In a flu epidemic, usually about 25 percent of the population gets infected. In the United States, which now has almost 300 million people, we could reasonably expect more than 70 million infections with the new virus strain. We don’t know whether the very high mortality we have seen so far would be experienced in such a pandemic. But if it were to cause even a significant fraction of the percentage of deaths as does the current bird flu in eastern Asia, it would be a disaster of historic proportions.”

Two classes of antiviral drugs are used to treat influenza virus infection, and both are being tested in the UTMB project: M2 inhibitors, which are believed to block early replication of the virus, and neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors, which hinder the enzymatic activity of NA that is believed necessary for the virus to reach its target cells. Amantadine and rimantadine are in the first category and have been used effectively to treat influenza A virus infections for many years. Studies have shown a low incidence of resistance to these drugs among currently circulating influenza viruses. But their use is rising worldwide, and drug resistance has been reported among influenza A (H5N1) viruses isolated from both poultry and human beings in Asia. The high frequency of resistant viruses where these drugs have been used extensively over time suggests that their future usefulness will be limited.

Last May a World Health Organization expert panel also warned of partial H5N1 viral resistance to the NA inhibitor oseltamivir. In preparation for a possible pandemic, experts say, it is critically important to evaluate various antiviral drugs that may be of therapeutic use, not only to check for viral resistance but also so the medications may be used as an alternative to existing drugs to treat influenza.

Studies under this contract will evaluate currently licensed and new influenza drugs.

The year-long UTMB project plans to test the drugs oseltamivir, peramivir and amantidine in ferrets, animals often used in similar flu studies because they are believed to best reflect human influenza. Oseltamivir and amantadine are licensed, commercially available prescription products; peramivir has not yet been licensed for human use by the Food and Drug Administration. The drugs will be administered orally and, in the case of peramivir, intramuscularly as well, both before and after separate groups of animals have been infected with either the less-lethal H3N2 strain of flu or the H5N1 strain.

Paessler said two top flu and respiratory disease researchers from Baylor College of Medicine—Drs. Robert B. Couch and Philip R. Wyde, professors of molecular virology and microbiology—will collaborate in the research, along with UTMB respiratory disease researchers led by Dr. Norbert J. Roberts, professor of internal medicine specializing in infectious diseases. The scientists will conduct the experiments with the less-lethal strains first, Paessler said, starting in November, and will progress next to test the drugs in the animals exposed to the H5N1 strain in UTMB’s biosafety level 4, maximum-containment laboratory.

UTMB’s Sealy Center for Vaccine Development is one of 10 entities empowered under contract to propose to do test-tube and animal studies for emerging diseases and biodefense in response to NIAID “task orders,” according to Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, director of the center. “We’re excited about how this contract mechanism allows the government to very quickly recruit the best talent in the country to do such work,” said Stanberry, who serves as principal investigator for the new flu contract and also for previously awarded contracts to study the safety and effectiveness of medical countermeasures against anthrax, plague, tularemia and other threats.

Amanzi wrote:Call me crazy, but I am getting really nervous about this flu. Only reason it is worrying me is that at the end of November my family and I are going to be stuck on an airplane for close to 24 hours.... Im a germaphobe (if there is such a word!) already, and the thought of having my kids basically quarantined in a flying sardine can for that length of time is making me really squeemish! BLECH.. I wish I could rent a bubble suit for us all. LOL.

Amanzi wrote:Thanks Eric... I am going to get some for sure. I wonder if the flu shot will help protect against this bird flu?

Skywatch_NC wrote:

Amanzi wrote:Call me crazy, but I am getting really nervous about this flu. Only reason it is worrying me is that at the end of November my family and I are going to be stuck on an airplane for close to 24 hours.... Im a germaphobe (if there is such a word!) already, and the thought of having my kids basically quarantined in a flying sardine can for that length of time is making me really squeemish! BLECH.. I wish I could rent a bubble suit for us all. LOL.

Not sure about the flu...but Bronnie...there's a new product out called "Airborne" (comes in both lozenges...and dissolvable discs for drinking) invented by a grade school teacher and contains natural herbs even ginger to prevent nausea and comes in at least 2 flavors. Take it before entering an airliner, school, restaurant, business building, etc. It helps to potentially avoid a cold bug altogether or at least in my Dad's case...he's had a cold since Saturday...it has helped him from getting worse and going to his chest. You can buy them at most stores...we bought 4 packs at a local Wal-Mart SuperCenter this past weekend.

Windy wrote:

Skywatch_NC wrote:

Amanzi wrote:Call me crazy, but I am getting really nervous about this flu. Only reason it is worrying me is that at the end of November my family and I are going to be stuck on an airplane for close to 24 hours.... Im a germaphobe (if there is such a word!) already, and the thought of having my kids basically quarantined in a flying sardine can for that length of time is making me really squeemish! BLECH.. I wish I could rent a bubble suit for us all. LOL.

Not sure about the flu...but Bronnie...there's a new product out called "Airborne" (comes in both lozenges...and dissolvable discs for drinking) invented by a grade school teacher and contains natural herbs even ginger to prevent nausea and comes in at least 2 flavors. Take it before entering an airliner, school, restaurant, business building, etc. It helps to potentially avoid a cold bug altogether or at least in my Dad's case...he's had a cold since Saturday...it has helped him from getting worse and going to his chest. You can buy them at most stores...we bought 4 packs at a local Wal-Mart SuperCenter this past weekend.

Er... this might be helpful for the common cold or normal flu, but bird flu kills people dead within a couple days of getting it. 50% mortality rate for people of all ages, even if you get immediate hospitalization -- throat lozenges won't help a bit!