NYT, pg1, lead: Avian Flu Wanes in Asian Nations It First Hit Hard

Avian Flu Wanes in Asian Nations It First Hit Hard
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: May 14, 2006


(Hoang Dinh Nam/Agence France-Presse--Getty Images)
Vietnam began vaccinating its chickens last summer and has not reported any avian flu in humans this year.

Even as it crops up in the far corners of Europe and Africa, the virulent bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic has been largely snuffed out in the parts of Southeast Asia where it claimed its first and most numerous victims.

Health officials are pleased and excited. "In Thailand and Vietnam, we've had the most fabulous success stories," said Dr. David Nabarro, chief pandemic flu coordinator for the United Nations.

Vietnam, which has had almost half of the human cases of A(H5N1) flu in the world, has not seen a single case in humans or a single outbreak in poultry this year. Thailand, the second-hardest-hit nation until Indonesia recently passed it, has not had a human case in nearly a year or one in poultry in six months.

Encouraging signs have also come from China, though they are harder to interpret.

These are the second positive signals that officials have seen recently in their struggle to prevent avian flu from igniting a human pandemic. Confounding expectations, birds making the spring migration north from Africa have not carried the virus into Europe....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/world/asia/14flu.html

because here comes, oh, let's see, what should it be now, something trendy, something that will make people sit up and take notice, something that might be a wonderful diversion from the reality of our country coming apart?

I've got it.

THE BLACK DEATH!

Let's blame it on the rat!

The likelihood of human recombination is directly correlated with the amount of contact between infected poultry and susceptible humans-- well, there are some other bits in there like alternate mammalian hosts, e.g. pigs-- but anything that decreases prolonged contact between the epizootic phase virus, susceptible humans, and other human influenza strains is a very good thing indeed. If the H5N1 avian flu has peaked in Asia we might have dodged the bullet, at least this time.

Tell you what though-- I don't regret storing a course of Tamiflu in my freezer for one minute!

certain Drug companies (perhaps one owned by Rummied) to profit from manufacturing in advance anticdote that no doubt would be useless by the time the virus arrived and had morphed.

The US Gov't and the US drug companies in collusion together, have been
trying to replicate the 1918 flu virus for some time and have
consistently failed miserably for a major reason.

They don't remember that technology was differrent in 1918.

Back then there were no electron microscopes developed to detect
that superduper micro element called the virus.
It wasn't until the virus had already killed millions that the new
electron micrbescope was developed to detect the first known virus.

Well, today almost every country has the capability to detect a
serious virus and act accordingly(quarranteening).Smaller numbers of people now are victims to mutating viruses, because we have the technology to act
swiftly. This is a good thing when we are confronted with Gov'ts and
special interest groups choosing to ethnic cleanse.

right now in indonesia and it looks like a health care worker might be infected. Africa has a two year old infected. It has shown up in birds again in Romania and Poland I guess as the birds migrate back. I hope it is so but I am not convinced yet. I have seen lulls before.

Just brainstorming for all possible ideas, to be refined later on.

If the readers understand what brainstorming is, they will not get distressed by this comment

Any refinement of the idea ?

Like the ones that flit through the air away from your nets? Not possible, JMHO of course. But I love the visual I got from trying to wrap my mind around your idea.