If this pandemic hits as the WHO and the UN warns, nothing else will matter. We must do all we can to prepare ourselves and others for this possibility. Please read on regarding my suggestions for this diary.
Disclaimer and UPDATE posted October 2, 2005:
I wrote this diary yesterday in order to inform and perhaps have enough information put here by others to inform people and to spur them to prepare as best they can for this should it mutate and strike us. It was not meant to panic people, and all the information included here is hopefully useful.
I like many have been watching reports of this and reading about it here on and off for months. I thought it was then and is time based on statements made by the WHO, the UN, and other organizations, to take it upon ourselves (meaning the people who are always left to fend for themselves during such disasters) to prepare for this in light of what we have seen unfold in this country in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and government responses to other tragedies we have faced in this country in the past few years.
I am not a scientist and make no claims that I am. I am simply a concerned American who cares about other Americans as so many others here and in this country do. If anyone comes away from reading this diary with any little bit of information that may subsequently help them face this should it strike, it will all be worth it. Thank you to all who contributed and will hopefully continue to contribute information to this diary. You have shown me by your responses that this truly is a communtity that cares.
~~~~~~~~
I have written a couple of other diaries about the Avian, or bird flu. There have also been other well written and informative diaries on this topic as well. However, with all of the other topics that are discussed here, I know it is difficult for many diaries to stay in the consciousness of those who read here let alone staying on any recommended list. I learned a while ago that unless you have a real following here, it is very hard to get on the recommended list where more readers will see the information you are providing regardless of what you write about.
Well, I am writing to ask that this diary be recommended based on the information in it because it is so important, and to ask one other favor. To those who have written such well informed diaries on Avian flu in the past, I was wondering if you see this if you would consider posting the links to your diaries in this thread again so that those who missed your diaries the first time can read them as well as those I am listing here. Perhaps if we have one central thread to list all the information and updated reports on this, we can make more people aware of this and to at least begin preparing somewhat for it.
This in my mind will be the next big challenge we will face.
Consider this article from just yesterday: (bolding is my emphasis)
Flu Pandemic Could Kill Up To 150 Million, UN Warns
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A global flu pandemic could kill as many as 150 million people if the world fails to prepare for an expected mutation of the bird flu virus enabling it to spread from human to human, the United Nations said on Thursday. Dr. David Nabarro of the Geneva-based World Health Organization said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked him to head up a worldwide drive to contain the current bird flu pandemic and prepare for its possible jump to humans.
If the virus spreads among humans, the quality of the world response will determine whether it ends up killing 5 million or as many as 150 million, Nabarro told a news conference.
The last flu pandemic, which broke out in 1918 at the end of World War One, killed more than 40 million people and drove home the vulnerability of a world where borders had less and less meaning, he said.
It seems very likely the H5N1 bird flu virus will soon change into a variant able to be transmitted among humans and it would be a big mistake to ignore that danger, he warned.
"I am almost certain there will be another pandemic soon," Nabarro said.
Some governments and international organizations have already started joining forces to begin preparations.
U.S. President George W. Bush unveiled a plan at the United Nations this month under which global resources and expertise would be pooled to fight bird flu, and Washington is hosting an Oct. 7-8 planning meeting.
The rest of the article is linked here:
Flu pandemic could kill 150 million, UN warns
World Health Organization
Some useful information from the CDC:
Centers For Disease Control And Prevention
UPDATE:
According to correspondence I received subsequent to posting this article, it appears that an article in the Dallas Morning News claims the figure of 150 million was revised to 7.4 million. Still large, but not as much as previously noted. When I get the link to verify this I will post it here as well.
This is a link from Newsday noting the adjustment as posted in this thread by Cecile. Thank you.
WHO Revises Estimate
The urgency with which plans are being made suggests to me that this is more serious than we know. And yes, of course, we should discuss other topics here, and yes, what Senator Obama said in his own diary can spawn two thousand diaries in response if people here so desire to do so. However, a flu pandemic of the magnitude this doctor has discussed will be hell on Earth, and we will literally be fighting for our lives. I believe that warrants some serious discussion and planning on our part as well.
For as we have also seen regarding the criminally negligent responses to both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita here, we cannot trust this government to do what needs to be done to either warn us or provide what we will need should such a pandemic strike the United States. I already know the poor, the elderly, and the disabled will be left out here to fend for themselves.
State budgets are already struggling under the weight of cut programs, high energy prices, and many states with those displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Also, this illegal stinking war will still be going on I am sure. Therefore, how many people will be sacrificed to Avian flu to keep the agenda of this administration going even then?
This community needs to then join together to alert as many people as possible to the likelihood of a mutation and outbreak of this killer virus. We should also be pushing our states to put adequate plans in place to protect the elderly, the weak, the disabled, and our children in the event of such a catastrophe, and one way to do that is to stop spending billions of dollars on this war and put it towards providing the American people with what they would need should such an outbreak occur. I tried to get something going on that in the first diary I linked below, but again, it didn't get very far. This is the most trafficked blog on the Internet. We then could reach so many people with information about this flu, and perhaps should this hit us, we could perhaps save some lives.
So please, consider recommending this diary, adding your own on the topic here, and imputing any information you have about Avian flu to inform and prepare those who visit here. I consider this to be a very important public service, and believe we must do this now.
Thanks.
State Pandemic Plans
Is Avian Flu The Next Disaster?
A New Flu Pandemic?
Informational Links (please add to these in the thread)
Avian-Influenza
European Influenza Surveillance