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Undoubtedly, you have heard about the possibility of a bird flu pandemic. A pandemic is an outbreak of an infectious disease that spreads over the entire globe. Obviously, a disease of that magnitude is something to fear and learn about. Many people are surprised to learn that there was a major pandemic in the last century. The deadly Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918-1919 was historic.
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Estimates are that between 50 and 100 million people died worldwide in that pandemic! Around 700,000 people died in the United States. And an astounding 17 million Indians perished. 200,000 Britons also died in that pandemic. Now, we fast forward to the present day. We face the real possibility of another pandemic of this magnitude. Humans have no immunity to bird flu - none. And bird flu has a 50% mortality rate. The only thing that is missing in the pandemic equation is human to human transmission. As it stands, bird flu is spread from birds to humans. It may never make that jump to direct human to human transmission - or it may happen soon. Only time will tell. In the mean time, there is some great technology out there, or coming soon, that may aid in the prevention of avian flu.
Smart-tek Solutions has come up with a system called RTAC-PM, which stands for RFID Tracking Alert Containment and Poultry Monitoring. This is being used to track poultry, a main agent for bird flu proliferation. Chickens are tracked throughout their life cycle. If excessive death is reported in an area, authorities move in to figure out if bird flu is the culprit.
GlaxoSmithKline just released clinical trials on two bird flu vaccines. It seems that a bird flu vaccine could be in production by next year. Let’s hope that it doesn’t hit before then.
Lastly, masks could aid tremendously in the fight against an avian flu if an outbreak occurs. But any old mask ain’t gonna’ cut it. You will need a mask that has an n95 rating or better. This means that it filters out 95% of airborne contaminants at .03 microns.
[tags]H5N1, bird flu, avian flu, bird flu prevention, bird flu vaccine, bird flu mask[/tags]
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I am afraid that the two “solutions” to the bird flu problem that you mention are not going to be effective against this global threat.
Even though the recent news items, have contained stories about the bird flu virus, mainly in the domestic poultry, according to experts, the virus is most likely to mutate in the wild population.
Wild birds with bird flu virus are constantly being found, all over the world.
The latest, a wild swan with the most deadly form of bird flu, has just been found in Germany.
As for the so called vaccine by the pharmaceutical giant, you may want to see the following post, by a blogger on our site.
(by the way, we like the concept of your site and have added your blog to the best bird flu blogs section of our site) :
The Great Bird Flu Vaccine Hype!
By jmtom, blogging at www.birdflunewsflash.com
All around the world people are rejoicing today!
It seems that an inexpensive and effective vaccine has been developed by a British company.
According to MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said this about the new vaccine:
“The data are really very impressive,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, “It changes the whole complexion of the issue that we have to face of getting enough vaccine for people who might need it in a pandemic.”
But hold on here!
What is this at the end of the same article?
I mean, right at the bottom of the article and certainly not in the form of a headline?
“Creating a prototype pandemic vaccine, however, does not guarantee that countries will be protected in the event of a flu pandemic.”
“This vaccine will only give protection against this particular H5N1 strain and possibly other H5N1 strains,” said Osterhaus.
Thus, if the next influenza pandemic is sparked by a subtype other than H5, much of this vaccine may prove of little use” reads the same article. .
” Because it is impossible to predict which influenza strain will spark the next pandemic, it is equally impossible to produce a vaccine that will be completely effective.”
What!!
So we have this great new vaccine, which er.. “may prove of little use”.
I see.
Well…
Not sure what to think now.
good comment. funny enough, i know a microbiologist and he said the same thing. once that virus mutates and switches from bird to human transmission to human to human, you have to create a new vaccine.
In any event, creating a vaccine now against currents strains at least gets us close to a new vaccine in the future - or does it?
But yes, you’re right - it may be ineffective.