April 22 Flu Update
ProMed reports new outbreaks in Myanmar and Kuwait.York (UK) article says that concern over payout to turkey producer is off-base. The bigger worry is that DEFRA could not pin down the exact source of H5N1 infection.
Article in Kenya says country at risk due to poultry smuggling.
ProMed revisits the migratory bird/smuggling debate. In this case, a wild hawk that had H5N1 in Japan had the Qinghai strain. You take it from there.
posted by Orange @ 10:06 PM
1 Comments:
Orange;
News is still slow on the wires, so it seems a good time to share one of my most unusual observations to you and your readers today, Orange.
I found out just how small the world is, and the following comment is from personal experience.
Last week, two tragic events hit the national news levels. Two separate, but similar shooting tragedies: the one at Virginia Tech, and the other was at NASA. Both events unfolded on national TV and involved disgruntled and obviously mentally unstable and distraught individuals.
I was in a building very next door at one of these events. What are the odds of this happening? In retrospect, I cannot begin to tell you the terror and instant alarm that sets in when a situation of extreme unexpected and unanticipated danger presents itself like this. You react with the traditional “fight or flee” response.
Which particular event I was involved in and witnessed, is not singly important.
But from personal experience, I am passing on what I believe to be some important lessons learned from my experience:
• Never think that something can’t happen to you, for example like a pandemic. I never thought a gun wielding unstable individual would start blasting in the building right next to me. Fortunately, I had prior military and emergency experience and training to fall back on. I knew what to do instinctively.
• Be as prepared as possible to mentally deal with a major crisis, in advance, if possible. Preparing for a pandemic is a good place to start. If you take thoughtful time now to prepare, when it emerges, you will be less likely to panic and will know what quickly needs to be done. You will not act irrationally.
• Finally, no matter how prepared you think you are, you will never actually be as fully capable of dealing with the crisis, as efficiently as you think you will be. Fortunately, our minds are programmed for survival, so this I believe is what makes the difference in a true emergency situation. But don’t count on instinct alone for survival.
Bad things can happen when you least expect it. I feel I am a very fortunate individual. Had I been in the wrong building last week, I might not be here to write this comment to you and others.
I cannot emphasize enough how prepared everyone must be for a pandemic. As horrific as these two tragedies were, they are no where near in scope how deadly a pandemic will be. How a person prepares for and reacts to mortal danger, may make the difference between becoming a statistic, and living to tell about it.
Take these words from my personal experience of last week, for what they are worth.
You cannot be too prepared for anything these days. A pandemic will make the entire world seem much smaller.
Wulfgang
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