December 1 Flu Update
H5N1 found in Bangladesh birds.Bird flu now in Bangladesh.
Saudi Arabia says its program to combat bird flu is in full swing.
State Department releases a report on its preparation for pandemic flu.
Warner Robins, GA, is holding a pandemic seminar.
Has the bird flu made people less likely to get seasonal flu shots?
Story on Frederick, MD company that has some vaccine funding.
Revere casts a wary on puff pieces of Dr. Chan.
posted by Orange @ 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
Orange;
I thought today would be a slow news day, but here you go again, throwing out good articles on your blog site that make me get my Plavix pills out.
I see Poland and Bangladesh are struggling a little to contain their bird flu breakouts. I’m not too excited about Poland though, because their Prime Minister, Donald Tusk (what a name), says “there is no cause for alarm”. We’ve heard that phrase about 150 times already, but the bird flu virus still keeps recycling everywhere with the change of the seasons.
What really got my left ventricle pumping is when I read through the stodgy State Dept Avian Influenza Report, then read Revere’s comments about withholding criticism on Margaret Chan. Could somebody please tell why our US tax dollars are being sent to China and what is going through the Director-General’s mind ? The State Dept reported that out of the US $ 98M pledged to the Southeast Asia region in 2007, $ 7.7M found its way to China and $ 37.6M was shipped to our obstinate and bellicose friend, Ms. Supari in Indonesia (land of incubator terrorists, who has steadfastly refuses to provide H5N1 strains to the world).
Point one: the economy of the People's Republic of China is the fourth largest in the world when measured by nominal GDP and is predicted to surpass Germany to assume third place in early 2008. Its economic output for 2006 was $2.68 trillion, and it is expected to approach $ 3.0 trillion in 2007. China has an economic engine that continually pumps out annual percentage economic growth rates around 10 per cent. Dr Chan was appointed to the post of Director-General on November 9, 2006. Her term will run through June 2012. If she keeps sending our US tax dollars to Communist China for “bird flu whatever reason”, the third largest economy in the world, you will know what I think of her. Besides, China needs to clean up their cooperation and reporting procedures before they receive a nickel: today they are reporting a death of 24 year old man in Jiangsu province - he gets sick on November 24th (no news report), enters the hospital on November 27th (still no news report) - and he croaks off dead today, December 3rd, and we finally get a news report. And I might add, no known contact with infected poultry (which is a bunch of BS).
Point two: regarding sending our tax dollars to Indonesia, even though I detest the very thought, it’s probably not a bad investment in the oncoming months, but only in terms of allowing our USDA, HHS and CDC “boots on the ground”, to sniff around and acquire critical H5N1 strain information. Heck, it can’t be that difficult or expensive - simply walk around over there, spot some moribund chickens, stick a needle in and draw a little blood sample. Same thing with human samples, all it takes is a shovel, a pair of gloves, a flashlight, and a little midnight ingenuity. Ain’t no big deal to it.
Regarding your DynPort and Baxtor International article and the $ 242M HHS grant they received to conduct human trials for bird flu vaccines, you want to sign up ?
The article says they are looking for 20-80 Phase I participants, and about 100-300 volunteers for Phase II. I am seriously thinking of volunteering.
No pain, no gain…
Wulfgang
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