June 1 Flu Update
China shares a flu sample for the first time in a year.There's also a new human case in Vietnam.
14 year old dies of bird flu in Indonesia. CIDRAP reports (also on China).
ProMed on the Indonesian fatality.
A Canadian professor with a new flu book has said that by the time flu gets to Canada, it will be too late. It needs to be stopped at the country of origin. (He is 100% right, of course)
Could you breed a chicken that is bird flu immune? It is being tried.
There are now 14 areas in Vietnam with bird flu outbreaks.
Scotland is creating an avian flu centre.
Revere blogs on Indonesia's claim that it withheld samples partly out of anti-American president against George W. Bush. (Frankly, in my view, that's a crock).
Azerbaijan says its surveillance shows no bird flu.
The FDA has new guidelines for approving vaccines.
Waterloo (ON) has approved its pandemic plan.
ProMed on Welsh outbreak of H7N2.
posted by Orange @ 11:03 PM
7 Comments:
Actually, what I said was that the position was able to prevail because of anti-American sentiment, which is a different matter. Not even neocons deny that Bush foreign policy has greatly increased anti US sentiment (they don't care) and most obervers of the politics at WHA believe that anti US sentiment plays a part in policy decisions like virus sharing.
Fair enough. I apologize if I misquoted you. I can assure you that I am no supporter of the President. As an activist in the Democratic Party, I have done everything I could to make a change for the country. And I certainly do not deny that anti-American feelings are stronger now than they ever have been.
Still, WHO and other international groups will use the President as a convenient excuse for any number of wrong, ill-advised or misguided moves, rather than taking responsibility for their actions. Grown ups don't do things that don't make sense just because someone somewhere is a jerk.
Orange;
Well, you are so correct in your comment above. Revere's comments are still a crock all right. Some anti-American feelings I am concerned about, others, quite frankly, I could care less (Iran, North Korea, Venzuela, Cuba, etcetera).
Like all good Muslim’s every where who are bent on world domination, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, has learned how to very effectively manipulate anti-American sentiment and media on the world stage, and garner support from mostly hostile nations – to effectively deflect the spotlight away from their own governments incompetence (including her), and onto the US. It’s a classic approach used these days by fundamental extremist nations and dictators.
We all know who Siti Fadilah Supari is and what she represents – she isn’t worth the oxygen she consumes. In view of her recent comments about the US’s policies (allegedly), the WHO should immediately withhold the $ 2.5M that Japan and the US pledged for Indonesia recently to establish its manufacturing capacity for influenza vaccine. After all, fair is fair - and a jerk is indeed a jerk.
Revere, at least in my opinion, just fell into an obvious trap. He needs to stop bashing the Bush administration, keep his blog site focused on medical, health care and social issues (where he excels), and refrain from his political diatribes. Using his website as an “anti-Bush bully pulpit” just makes him look bad to most of us. I’m not a Bush or “Iraq-War-On-Terrorism fan either” (Iraq, the war and the entire Middle East are all rat hole countries in my view), but for him to state that “Bush and his cronies are….the most dangerous and deadly American administration in history… and a SOB”, is rather ludicrous.
The reason the scientific community does not have all the latest information about a possible pandemic virus, is simply because the two most endemic and deceitful countries in the world, who have mismanaged viruses, China and Indonesia, do not want to provide them because then the rest of the world will understand how terribly bad things are there. The WHO is only an paved avenue for money for them.
The rest of the world will suddenly be able to recognize how atrocious the incompetence and mismanagement of vaccines and agricultural surveillance is in each of their countries - and how terribly close each country is to sparking the initial epidemic catastrophe, that will kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide in a pandemic.
So, when the Canadian professor says a pandemic flu virus needs to be stopped in the country of origin – yes, he’s 100% right, as you say – but the practical side of things are: how are you going to deal with a fundamentalist nincompoops like Supari, or the largest communist nation in the world (China) who only want to extort money and technical/scientific support, who both fail to provide samples as promised, and have the gall to demand vaccines from the rest of the world ?
We all must realize the western world is on its own when it comes to a pandemic. Both China and Indonesia will implode soon under the weight of their own epidemics, mostly of their own choosing and incompetence.
I say the US, Canada, and Western Europe should go it alone and to hell with all those countries that are unwilling to cooperate for the good of mankind. We have the technology to do it and we should.
Wulfgang
Wulfgang, Orange: Let me say first that I am always surprised and delighted at the accuracy of your summaries of my posts at EM. Sometimes I read them and say to myself, "Yes, that's really what I was saying." In this case I think you got it wrong and in Wulfgang's comment, wrong in substance, not just in what I said.
Wulfgant: "Like all good Muslim’s every where who are bent on world domination, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, has learned how to very effectively manipulate anti-American sentiment and media on the world stage, and garner support from mostly hostile nations – to effectively deflect the spotlight away from their own governments incompetence (including her), and onto the US. It’s a classic approach used these days by fundamental extremist nations and dictators. "
Is this meant to be your version of what all Muslims think? Because if so, I think it is not either accurate or tolerant. Maybe you were only referring to a subset, but it reads rather differently. Regarding anti US feelings being manipulated, they don't have to be manipulated. They were either created or exacerbated by Bush foreign policy and there is general agreement on that, even by Bush supporters (who don't care).
As for how I should use my blog, well, that is my business and my business only. It is a public health blog. Public health has the word public in it and I consider issues of war, peace and the Bush administation to be public health related.
Wulfgang, Orange: Let me say first that I am always surprised and delighted at the accuracy of your summaries of my posts at EM. Sometimes I read them and say to myself, "Yes, that's really what I was saying." In this case I think you got it wrong and in Wulfgang's comment, wrong in substance, not just in what I said.
Wulfgang: "Like all good Muslim’s every where who are bent on world domination, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, has learned how to very effectively manipulate anti-American sentiment and media on the world stage, and garner support from mostly hostile nations – to effectively deflect the spotlight away from their own governments incompetence (including her), and onto the US. It’s a classic approach used these days by fundamental extremist nations and dictators. "
Is this meant to be your version of what all Muslims think? Because if so, I think it is not either accurate or tolerant. Maybe you were only referring to a subset, but it reads rather differently. Regarding anti US feelings being manipulated, they don't have to be manipulated. They were either created or exacerbated by Bush foreign policy and there is general agreement on that, even by Bush supporters (who don't care). He just made it easy for them to use it. Bush has ued Saddam's behavior to his advantage, even manipulating US opinion to his advantage. But that doesn't mean Saddam's behavior wasn't extremely bad. It is a logical fallacy to say that just because someone misuses it, it isn't true, which you were implying.
I would also say the idea that Middle East countries are rat holes and don't deserve our interest is, well, not a very serious view of a difficult set of problems.
As for how I should use my blog, that is my business and my business only. It is a public health blog. Public health has the word public in it and I consider issues of war, peace and the Bush administation to be public health related. You say you are not a fan of Bush but your policy prescription -- go it alone -- is not different. We are all in this together, like it or not. It is folly to think we can isolate ourselves from the rest of the world when it comes to infectious disease (or much else). If anything shows differently, it is avian influenza I would think.
Grown ups do a lot of things that don't make sense just because someone is a jerk. I point to Wulfgang's comment as an example. He is irritated because Supari is a jerk. But what he says -- at least in my view -- is a crock. I think I've made my views on Supari quite clear. But I'd rather keep my nose even if my face isn't that great.
Now, Wulfgang, I'll issue you a challenge. I said Bush and his cronies were the most dangerous and deadly administration in American history. You said it was ludicrous. That suggests you have an alternative candidate or candidates for the most dangerous and deadly in US history. Care to name them?
Revere;
We are probably closer to agreement on matters than realized. First, I absolutely would agree that George Bush’s policies have created more problems than they have solved. I don’t agree with most of them, and I am very alarmed by the continued animosity it causing against the US, on the world stage. If what you mean when you say it will take many years to rectify them, I agree, especially when it comes down to the basics, like immigration, health reform, education, judicial, arms control, the environment and even his “war on terror”. Overall, it’s been a near disaster and a terrible culmination of lost opportunities.
Regarding my view on religions, admittedly, I have a biased viewpoint. In my view, any and all religions, and the same with their follower’s, that ascribe to the viewpoint they are the “chosen people of God”, and therefore all others in existence are just temporary visitors on this planet – I have a real problem with. They are fundamental extremists in my opinion. Of course, not all followers of any religion believe this, however, most are brainwashed from childhood to think this “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” thought process.
Regarding your blog – you own it and its content and all the hot button topics, like Orange and many others. Sorry sir, but referring to any past or present President of the US as a “SOB”, comes across as rather undignified. That’s my only point.
Have a nice day
Wulfgang: Yes, I agree, we are probably close. Of course we expess ourselves differently, and my chief regret in saying Bush is an SOB is that I didn't use stronger language. I know you have been following the blog for a long time and you know that The Reveres on occasion use language that some people don't like. Diction, or word choice, is different on the blog than in our academic lives (or life, if there is only one of us) and one of the meager pleasures we have doing it daily. When it comes to being an SOB, Bush is not anywhere near the worst President. Woodrow Wilson might get the nod from us in that regard. But in terms of being dangerous to the world, I think he is at the top because of the nature of the world as it is today. He is on the end of a long lever and things he does are magnified and affect hundreds of millions or billions. Climate change is a dramatic example, but nuclear proliferation, inciting violent reactions and decapitating any moral suasion the US might have to make the world better are others. The damage his administration has done to CDC won't be repaired for decades, if it ever will be, because of the dramatic loss in prestige and institutional memory. The damage to international law has been great. The list is long. In other times the danger might not be so great, but these aren't other times.
So I'm glad we can finish on a conciliatory note because I think fundamental agreement is the reality. I felt I needed to explain myself and I appreciate you giving me the space to do that for your readers (of which I am one).
Post a Comment
<< Home