Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

It looks like it is finally upon us. Avian flu has now been confirmed in Romania and Turkey (thats the country) and given migratory flight patterns it should only be a matter of weeks before the first case is confirmed in the UK.At least according to the theory.
Meanwhile, the current flu vaccine offered by GP's offers immunity against only a few strains of flu virus and not against H5N1, the human variant. Even if one was available, it is unlikely that the UK, with only one flu vaccine plant, would be in a position to manufacture dosages in sufficient quantities.
So what is going to happen? Well, according to whispers down here, the goverment is preparing some pretty severe contingency plans, including restrictions on rail and road travel, closure of schools,etc,in an attempt to isolate any possible outbreak of H5N1. I don't know to what extent this is fact or just silly rumour.
I do remember, though the scares over mad cow/new variant CJD disease and a projected UK death toll anywhere between 100,000 and several million. 10 years later the toll is no more than a couple of hundred.
So what is it to be? Are we going to panic over this and run around like a bunch of headless chickens or is it going to be a non starter, a dead duck. Would the good people of Hyndburn panic anyway? And if the virus does prove highly contagious, what are you going to do?

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Gosh is it 10 years since BSE? I remember working at Bentley wood farm at teh time. We had a day where we sold no beef products at all. Then everyone came in and oredered steaks to show that we weren't scared of british beef! :)

I reckon it will be a dead duck. The world must have been through stuff liek this thousands of times over the last couple of million years and we are still here thanks.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

If it happens, it happens, no point panicking as willow says its non productive.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Lets face it, some form of flu wipes out thousands of people worldwide every year.. If we did have an epidemic, and the government put their contingency plans into practice, they would in all likelihood fail. As with any infectious disease there will be a time lag between when it was contracted and when symptoms begin to manifest. In some infectious diseases you can have contact but not have symptoms until one or two weeks later, the common childhood illnesses spring to mind here, Chickenpox, Rubella, Measles etc... Even if it is a short incubation of only a few hours..... How many people would you come into contact with in that short time? I know that for me it could be anything between 10 -100......:D I wouldn't bother panicking, it won't stop you getting the flu if you are going to get it.....

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Just to be on the safe side I am intending to wear a full chemical suit and respirator tomorrow morning when I go down town to do a bit of shopping. I think the look on peoples face will be very funny. Would any of you like to join me? I have a spare suit..

http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/images/suit-ty600fv.jpg

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Apparently as long as the virus remains in birds and does not mutate we are all relatively safe. If, however, it gets into a human cell that is already host to another form of humanly transmissable flu virus they could potentially have a bit of a virus get together and swap chromosomes. Then the H5N1 virus could become capable of being transmitted from human to human and, given how virulent this virus is, that is when people start dropping like flies. Starting the panic now is counterproductive and will only cause economic damage - you can expect the supermarket price of Chicken and Duck to drop considerably the closer the virus gets to us.

The vaccine that the government is stockpiling, "Tamiflu", is probably going to be a bit of a waste of time and money. As I understand the situation it won't stop you contracting the virus in the first place, but it will make the symptoms less lethal, you will still be able to pass it on to relatives, friends and strangers. By the time that you realise that you have the virulent H5N1 strain of flu and not a typical strain or just a cold it will probably be too late to do much about it. Any vaccine to specifically target mutated H5N1 will take months to develop and even longer to produce in quantities sufficient to innoculate everybody in Western Europe, America, and everywhere else. There is a strict pecking order in these things, as you might expect, and the great and the good will be first in the queue. You and I will probably come in fairly low down on the list.

In the Hong Kong SARS outbreak it was found that bad sanitation and blocked sewers lead to the spread of the infection. The moral here is DISINFECT everyone and everything, particularly your hands, before during and after anything that you do.

Lets hope it doesn't manage to get round to mutating, eh?

Anyone interested in shares in Carbolic Soap?????

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

you could get a job as a lollipop man and kill two birds with one stone,,,,,
i think theres a joke there somewhere http://www.smileytown.com/app_smiley...t/exct0002.gif

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Lets all go out and have an american stylet urkey shoot just to be on the safe side.:D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Stop kissing birds right now.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I was recently given a very good tip for dealing with the flu. So being the selfless soul that I am, I will share it with you all so that you can remain healthy this winter..:D

It makes a lot of sense in a twisted kind of way.... When you go to get an injection at the doctors or hospital, the nurse will swab the injection site with alcohol. We do this to kill germs on your skin. Therefore plenty of alcohol in your system should help to keep you germ-free.:D ;)

Remember that it's better to have a shot in your glass....................than a shot in your a...

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Sneeze alot, moan and groan a great deal more and bore everyone I meet with my tales of woe about how this is the worse case of 'flu ever caught in the history of mankind (a bit like when I get a mild cold really).
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_2_26.gifhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_58.gifhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_6_25.gifhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_6_4.gifhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_2_45.gif

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

If it does arrive and mutate, will only men get it?

Women will only have the 'bit of as snuffle' strain and stop being so mard type.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Yes, men will definately suffer more.:rolleyes:

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I don't know about flu but there is definitely a tummy bug going around. The number of people that I know that have spent at least one night in the last fortnight throwing up! I haven't had it yet but as I was up all night with Maddie last night I fully expect to get it soon.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1591358,00.html



This morning BBC news was full of “Experts” who claimed that H5N1 is unlikely to become a pandemic with the ability to kill at least one in every eighty people in the UK and worldwide. The chance of it becoming transmissible between humans, we were told, was so slight as to be barely negligible.

Why then the government rush to spend £186 million on stockpiling 14 million courses of “Tamiflu” (Oseltamivir) which is only effective in large doses and then only if administered within a relatively short time following infection? If the pandemic strikes this winter however, the stockpile as yet contains only 3Million courses, which are earmarked for civil servants and health professionals, so the chances of help from that quarter are slim to say the least.

As the report in the link above points out, H5N1 is already transmissible between humans, albeit in a limited manner.



Another link, to a different article in the Guardian,


http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1592857,00.html


shows that the three main sites for entry of H5N1 into the UK are The Wash, The Thames Estuary and… Morecambe Bay and the River Ribble. Apparently, Bird watchers have been recruited to scour the area for signs of tell-tale deaths among wild birds arriving here from Russia that could be carrying the infection. The last outbreak of foot and mouth caused widespread disruption to the UK Economy as a whole and to the tourist and farming industry in particular even though nobody died of Foot and Mouth, because the disease is not transmissible to humans. The full cost to the Economy was in Billions of pounds!


Imagine then the full impact of a viral pandemic.


Accrington has a population of 38,000. The mortality rate is expected to be at least one in eighty of the population. H5N1 is fatal in 50% of cases, so that means that with 475 deaths within the first twelve weeks of the outbreak there will be something in the region of 1,000 infections. That means an extra forty funerals per week; more than quadrupling the winter average for Accrington. But those figures are extrapolated from national averages that are, at best, informed guesstimates. Considering that the population of the North West has one of the poorest standards of health in the country, my guess is that those figures are a considerable underestimate.


A point to be aware of is that victims of this virus die in considerable pain as their lungs slowly fill up with blood.


Then consider how easily colds get passed around in offices and ask yourself, would you want to go to work during such an epidemic? Would you want to send your children to school? Would you even want to get within twenty feet of another human being?


The price of food going up because imports are restricted. Businesses going bust because they cannot export or recruit enough staff to fill vacancies caused by absenteeism and illness. No money coming in. People are forced to rely on their savings to make ends meet. Banks begin, first to struggle to meet demand and then to fail. Rationing of health care. Anger. Grief. Desperation. Civil Unrest.


Speculation? Possibly. But the outbreak of Foot and Mouth and the Fuel Strike which followed it showed us how uncomfortably close to anarchy the country actually is; and lives were not at stake in either of those two cases.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

If the infection could enter our area via Morecambe Bay or the Ribble Valley, I think anyone who commutes inland from the coast, [especially the bit in the middle. the Fylde coast,] should be quarinted at Freckleton.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I take it that you actually mean "quarantined". In which case, thanks!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I did.

Thanks.

I was in a hurry to see the results of the X-Factor.:)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Mmmmm dont i know about that today!!!!! My lad has been throwing up all evening since before tea & now my daughter has just started spewing up everywhere an all.......... just hope i dont be sick cos im the worlds worst sicker LOL:(

Ah well thank gawd for leather settee's.......& no sleep for me tonight by looks of it:(

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Gawd not feeling well myself now specially after all the extra cleaning up ive done oo i hope i dont get it:eek: in fact praying LOL

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

That's really quite disturbing to read A-b, but I do think a lot of it is media hype. The various natural diasters that have taken place over the last 12months in other countries show us just how fragile we really are though.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

True though amazes me with all the medical intervention to live longer & yet population control really is in the hands of him upstairs!!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

looks like i'm a gonner then livind near the fylde coast ... http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_122.gif

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Don't think death will get you out of paying up for the last to post :)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

it been on one these news ch that farm down surrey been slaughted

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

That would be the farm in one of A-B's links in his earlier post. The birds were imported from France, found to be infected with Newcastle Disease and culled. This was back in July and has only just made the news...

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well that's the price of Turkeys trebbled (at least) at Christmas.

Seriously though, it's no use panicing just yet and if it does come to this country, it comes not a lot we can do about it though.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_1_214.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_5.gif oh dear,,, gulp

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well according to bbc news they are sending experts over to Asia to investigate this bird flu

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

We could have an answer here in our very own Accrington ........ send The Staggeringman out to shoot every bird in sight ;) I'm sure he would rise to the challenge :)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Would he shoot the right birds though mm ??:rolleyes:

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

It's being so cheerful that keeps me going!:D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

No one knows if this virus will mutate so that it can be passed from one human to another.
The Media are scare mongering again. Anyway the Government has plans to close the borders.....Yeah, like that'll work.....look at all the illegals we have......couldn't stop them could they. What chance have they got against a virus (tongue in cheek)?

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

i dont see what the panic is all about..

british chickens are pumped so full of anti biotics to fatten them up i doubt even the plague could kill them never mind a hyped up cold :)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

so thats seagull tika massala off the menue then :(

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well I hope all the fit birds in Accy survive or my jobs gonna get boring.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

'The North wind doth blow,
and we shall have snow,
and what shall poor Robin do then?'


Even though I'm literally living in a death trap, and in sight of a bird infested nature reserve, I shall gird my loins, and continue putting out titbits for my little feathered friends.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

omg,have I ruffled your feathers.sorry.A few ppl have died that have been within contact of thousands of birds and your all goin mad.It takes more than a bloody bird disease to make me have a sleepless night.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Call me an old cynic (if ya dare) I can see it being an excuse to put the prices of everything through the roof ...... even mortgage payments!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

You never know,you might have birds dropping through your roof,it'll put your insurance premiums up.lol

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Like they threatened to at Millenium incase a stray firework blew my roof off :(!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Sleepless night?


Birds?


You seeing Tippi Hedren?

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

lock up your budgies ,canarries and minah birds..............

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Cough, Cough, wheeze, groan, sniffle, "Oh, my aching back, how my head hurts".

Don't any of you panic it's not 'flu, just me getting out of my chair going to make a brew!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Avian flu has been around in the Far East for several years and has only killed about 80 people. When you consider the amount of people who contracted SARS in a very short space of time, it suggests that this virus is nowhere near as virulent. I don't deny that there is a possibility that it could mutate to become more virulent but as usual, the government and the media are hyping this up.... It's making me wonder if we are being deliberately distracted in order for the gov't to bury some bad news..:rolleyes:

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

It does worry me, I have to admit, the reason being that I am one of those most at risk, having lousy asthma. If I got avian flu, the chances of my surviving are quite small, and I do still like the thought of a world with me in it! It has happened before, and the likelihood is that it will happen again, perhaps not this year, but certainly at some point. Pumping chickens full of antibiotics won't help, because antibiotics are not effective against viruses, which is what flu is. In 1918 more American servicemen in Europe were killed by Spanish flu than had died in the whole of their involvement in WW1. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Is it as bad as the Millenium Bug?

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I thought I had a dose of that so i got a prescription for 15 pints on the Eve.Suffered terrible side effects the morning after but I was cured.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

well i got a couple of chickens from morrisons today,,,they were delicious..
chicken curry tomorrow,,yummy

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

on the news tonight- a parrot in quarantine in the u.k. has died of bird flu,they aint sure which strain of it yet. i would have thought they would have a ban of the import of birds whilst this disease is rife on the continent,but obviously NOT.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

First case reported in Liverpool, the symptoms are A blue nose and feeling sick as a parrot.:)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Could this be the first case of Avian flu in France?????:D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

LMAO!!!!!!!! Donald copped it too then lol:D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Does that mean Daisy Hughie Louis and Duey kicked the bucket as well? Oh dear will poor Daffy be on his last legs? Will I ever have Peking duck again? This is a travisty! Someone please please please fix it!

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Oh dear...... I think it may be spreading..;)

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Like it I like it this is the best kind of humour.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I hope it gets this bird soon! I hate this bird!..

http://www.stlux.com/uploaded_images...JPG-771619.jpg

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

did anyone see the headline that tony blairs idea of preparing for the bird flu virus was to order 200,000 body bags

nothing to wory about its just that body bags are obviously cheaper than the vacine

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

me too..... is it now time to send for the quack.......:engsmil: gives a all new meaning to the word

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Live chickens are still being imported from France. But we couldn't ban them anyway, as only the European Commission has the power to do this. However, that didn't stop the French refusing to drop the ban on our beef, even after it had been declared safe by the European Commission in 1999. Sadly our government doesn't have the guts to do the same with French chickens.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

we should give France a very wide birth,like they did with us...

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

A poultry adviser to the government has said, "We have to work within the legal framework. It is frustrating but French chickens are still legally able to be imported into the UK." So why can't we do what the French did in '99? Because our government hasn't got the bottle, that's why. :(

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

The British Govenment is scared of France in case of reprisals and the EU because they darnt upset them. Sod the legal framewok lives could be at risk here.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Just been on the radio that a cat has been confirmed with having bird flu in Germany.

Poor lil Tweetie Pie.:(

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Yeh! Then we could accidentally shoot Tony Blair and some of the others.

Just a bizarre thought. What if this strain of bird flu has been deliberately unleashed on us? A sort of biological warfare. Far better than blowing things up.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Nice thought, better still tie them to a rocket bound for Mars. :D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

I had better take extra care with this bird flu about. I have been eating dead chooks all my life apart from other dead things:D

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well I was listening to the news this morning, and it says they have found a dead cat with a strain of bird flu...that's what killed it.

Well that's put the cat among the pigeons hasn't it!!:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Yeah, I think alot of people will be watching their little pussies very carefully from now on.

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well mine is looking fine!! and I haven't heard my pussy sneezing....so I think it's got the all clear.:rolleyes:

Re: Bird Flu - will it be headless chickens or a dead duck?
 

Well some bird has given me flu and I aint happy. Feel like I have done 4 triathalons back to back.:(