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I was listening to some co-workers this morning speaking of the Bird Flu. It amazes me just how un-informed people are, and how panicky they have become over this illness. These co-workers were talking about how they never eat undercooked bird, because that's how you contract Avian Influeza. They went on to discuss the fact that once you contract bird flu you pass it to others through the air.
It amazed me to hear this and I have to wonder where these false facts are coming from. Is it simple rumour or are these stories being passed by the press? And if it is rumour is it honest, meaning to help, broken-telephone rumours or is it malicious? If it is the press, are they trying to start a panic?
Lets work under the idea that this is the press. Maybe they are trying to find the next SARS. We all remember SARS. It had people panicked, it destroyed Toronto's economy. It killed hundreds of people world wide. SARS was going to be the next Spanish Flu. But the thing with SARS was that the press told us how many died, without telling us how many contracted the disease. Well, here are the numbers: out of the 8,098 people who contracted the disease, 774 died. That's a less than 1% mortality rate. Suddenly it's not so scary. Legionaire's Disease, something you rarely hear about, has a 5% - 30% mortality rate and between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized for this illness in the States alone every year. And this doesn't include the thousands of people who are never diagnosed. But the press never really says much, unless a whole wedding party or senior's home is dessimated by the illness. It's not the next Flu, so the press doesn't care.
But lets get back to Avian Flu. Here are the facts:
1) You can only get it by coming into contact with bird feces, saliva, or mucus
2) Once you contract it there is very little chance that you will pass it on to anyone else
It is a bad flu (of the 18 people in Hong Kong who developped serious upper respiratory distress, 6 died), but it doesn't seem to have a higher mortality rate than the normal influenza virus. So the thing is, we have to be careful, take precautions (especially if one is at risk), but we have to stop this panic.
This isn't the Spanish Flu, people, stop treating it like it is.
It amazed me to hear this and I have to wonder where these false facts are coming from. Is it simple rumour or are these stories being passed by the press? And if it is rumour is it honest, meaning to help, broken-telephone rumours or is it malicious? If it is the press, are they trying to start a panic?
Lets work under the idea that this is the press. Maybe they are trying to find the next SARS. We all remember SARS. It had people panicked, it destroyed Toronto's economy. It killed hundreds of people world wide. SARS was going to be the next Spanish Flu. But the thing with SARS was that the press told us how many died, without telling us how many contracted the disease. Well, here are the numbers: out of the 8,098 people who contracted the disease, 774 died. That's a less than 1% mortality rate. Suddenly it's not so scary. Legionaire's Disease, something you rarely hear about, has a 5% - 30% mortality rate and between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized for this illness in the States alone every year. And this doesn't include the thousands of people who are never diagnosed. But the press never really says much, unless a whole wedding party or senior's home is dessimated by the illness. It's not the next Flu, so the press doesn't care.
But lets get back to Avian Flu. Here are the facts:
1) You can only get it by coming into contact with bird feces, saliva, or mucus
2) Once you contract it there is very little chance that you will pass it on to anyone else
It is a bad flu (of the 18 people in Hong Kong who developped serious upper respiratory distress, 6 died), but it doesn't seem to have a higher mortality rate than the normal influenza virus. So the thing is, we have to be careful, take precautions (especially if one is at risk), but we have to stop this panic.
This isn't the Spanish Flu, people, stop treating it like it is.