Ever since I read the book "The Coming Plague," I've been a little bit microbially-paranoid. Mutiply-resistant TB, Ebola, Hantavirus, the Various Heps... it's kind of amazing that any of us are still alive.
But this Avian flu, man. This has me worried. Since it's not a variant of an existing virus, we've got no defense. And it's an equal-opportunity killer. This flu doesn't just kill the old, infirm, and immuno-compromised (not to say that this would be a good thing if it did)... but it kills everyone. Equally.
The death estimates range wildly: the UN initially said up to 150 million people worldwide, although they took that back. . The CDC said that the next pandemic flu could take out 700,000 people in the US. It seems that the general consensus is a wide range: 2 - 10 million people, planetwide.
So what do I do? Stockpile Tamiflu? Maybe: but the first case of Tamiflu-resistant Avian flu virus was reported yesterday. And yes, it seems that someone was given low doses as a "preventative." When are people going to learn how to take their fucking medicine? Every single time you go off anti-virals or anti-biotics early, you are simply creating a stronger disease. Think about that, the next time you by an "Anti-microbial" hand soap, please.
Scary shit. All I want is for my kids to outlive me. Seriously. This is one thing that makes me worry that it won't happen.
Anyway.
Love to all. Even you, the person with that wet, icky cough.
1 comment:
Yep this shit is scary and has just reached Europe. UK has death estimates from a bird flu pandemic ranging from 53,000 to 700,000.
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