Bird flu

[Kat Kanning]

not Joe.

[Lloyd Danforth]

oh

[EZPass]

I wonder:  Do birds with bird flu get all achy and have goo dripping from their beaks?

[Eli]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1765943,00.html#

Saunas to prevent flu.  Wonder if I could build one with my medical flex account.

[polyanarch]

Parrot in UK found with Bird Flu

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/10/24/birdflu.main/index.html

[Lloyd Danforth]

I wonder:? Do birds with bird flu get all achy and have goo dripping from their beaks?

Well, if you see one like that, better stay away.

[Dreepa]

My bird is sick.. please Govt call in the military to save my bird.

[polyanarch]

C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

O: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.

C: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

O: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

C: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

O: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

C: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up!

(shouting at the cage)

'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you show...(owner hits the cage)

O: There, he moved!

C: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!

O: I never!!

C: Yes, you did!

O: I never, never did anything...

C: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!!

Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

C: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

[Kat Kanning]

Exxon-Mobil Employees Given Fake Flu Shots

Fri Oct 28,12:46 PM ET

BAYTOWN, Texas - Fake flu shots were given out last week at a health fair at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown complex and an investigation was under way, authorities said.
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Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Treacy A. Roberts said Thursday that the
FBI told the company that what was administered "definitely not the flu vaccine."

It doesn't appear that the fake shots were harmful, but steps were being taken to ensure workers' safety, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement Thursday.

Exxon Mobil offered blood tests and counseling to the up to 1,000 employees who took part in the health fair at the oil company's vast complex of refineries and chemical plants just east of Houston.

The FBI and the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration are investigating what was in the syringes and whether others might have received the fake vaccine, Rosenberg said.

Jeanne Miller, another Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, said a doctor provided the shots in Exxon's first use of an outside contractor to administer the shots. She declined to identify the doctor because of the federal investigation.

In the past, Miller said, company medical staff had offered flu shots at health fairs.

FBI officials did not explain how they found out about the potential fraud, Roberts said.

In May, a nurse in Minnesota, Michelle Torgerson, pleaded guilty to dispensing a drug without a prescription, admitting she used diluted vaccine left over from an earlier clinic and pocketed the cash when she gave college students shots at $20 each.

[Michael Fisher]

I don't need no stinkin flu shots.   

[Kat Kanning]

    

Drill will test city for flu emergency

Seacoast Online | October 28, 2005
By Joe Adler

PORTSMOUTH - The city will be one of three regional sites next month holding an "emergency vaccination exercise" to test preparedness in the case of a disease outbreak.

The drill is part of a plan developed in 2001 by emergency officials and Portsmouth Regional Hospital in the wake of the anthrax scare. During the exercise, 2,000 residents of Portsmouth and four other towns can get actual flu vaccinations to test the region?s readiness for a real event.

"This plan has been in the works ever since we started looking into bioterrorism back in 2001," said emergency physician Dr. David Heller, who will participate in a 9:30 a.m. news conference Monday at City Hall to discuss the drill.

The exercise will be held at Portsmouth High School on Nov. 19 starting at 8 a.m. Residents of Portsmouth, Greenland, New Castle, Newington and Rye can go directly to the school to receive a free shot.

Recently, health officials have expressed concern over the threat of a pandemic from a deadly form of the flu virus, known as avian flu.

So far, it has killed humans in Asia - and birds in Asia and Europe - but has not been found to spread from human to human.

The flu vaccinations made available at the Portsmouth drill will be for common flu.

Heller said the planned exercise - which the state has asked Portsmouth, Manchester and Colebrook to carry out - should not alarm residents about the threat of a pandemic.

He said the need for disaster preparedness has been magnified in part by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, where unsanitary conditions have led to fears of sicknesses such as cholera, typhoid and tetanus.

"In New Orleans, there was a need to immunize people against tetanus," Heller said.

The high school was chosen for the exercise to reflect the type of site where emergency personnel would set up in the case of an actual emergency.

"Rather than overrun the hospital, we?ll choose an off-site location, which in this case is the high school," said Portsmouth Fire Chief Christopher LeClaire, the city?s emergency management coordinator.

The news conference will include LeClaire, Heller, City Manager John Bohenko and Dr. Jon Albertson, chief of staff at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, the state Department of Health and Human Services will hold a public forum on the avian flu at City Hall.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.

[Michael Fisher]

Drill will test city for flu emergency

PORTSMOUTH - The city will be one of three regional sites next month holding an "emergency vaccination exercise" to test preparedness in the case of a disease outbreak.

Are they going to quarantine the city, shoot civilians, enact curfews, and create concentration camps for the sick like they'll do in real life?

Or is this "drill" just for show?

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.fmnn.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1643
BUSH UNVEIL SUPER FLU STRAT.

Monday, October 31, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

On Tuesday, the Bush administration will unveil a ?long-awaited plan on how to fight the next super-flu,? according to the Washington Post. ?It will likely include beefed-up attempts to spot human infections early, both here and abroad. Expect recommendations on how to isolate the sick. Governors and mayors are on notice to figure out who will actually inject stockpiled vaccines into the arms of panicked people.? Bush will arrive at the National Institutes of Health to speak to the issue of how America will contain the next flu pandemic ? as well as other potential ?super bugs.? Part of the speech will deal with the president?s request of Congress for funds for to fight bird flu. Such a request will include funds for the ?buildup of infrastructure? according to anonymous administration officials quoted by the Post.

It has already been reported widely that the administration has ordered $160-million in bird-flu vaccines from two companies Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Corp. The administration has also ordered millions of doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, sparking controversy among those aware that the company initially responsible for Tamiflu is Gilead, a company for which Donald Rumsfeld was formerly chairman and in which other administration or former-administration officials are reportedly involved. A reader writes to inform FMNN of the following: "Relenza [Glaxo] and Tamiflu [Roche]are only marginally beneficial against influenza virus. The idea that these anti-viral drugs are going to save us from a pandemic is silly. Pages 1606-07 of the Physicians' Desk Reference [PDR], state that Relenza is not significantly better than placebo. On pages 2927-28, the PDR states that, in patients 65 years and older, there is a one-day reduction in the median time to improvement in influenza-infected subjects but the difference from placebo is not significant. Clearly Tamiflu helps prevent influenza, but [some or many] subjects in the prevention studies took Tamiflu for 42 consecutive days. These data are not generally known by a public that seems eager to stockpile Tamiflu as if it is a wonder drug. I wonder what all the fuss is about.? [FMNN had not confirmed this information at press time and readers are invited to email updates.]

The Post also points out the following: ?Federal health officials are beginning to wonder about a backlash if the worrisome strain in fact fizzles out - or is contained in birds, as specialists are struggling to do - and never threatens Americans' health.? However, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has stressed that ?pandemic preparations to improve how vaccines are made and diseases are detected will improve public health overall.? He is quoted as saying, ?If it isn't the current H5N1 cirus that leads to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future another virus will."

It is possible, however, that the government?s plans will virtual guarantee the epidemic that it claims it wants to avoid. ?A Flu Quarantine? No, Sir,? By Wendy Orent, October 16 2005, observes that, "A few scientists have suggested 'priming' people with a dose of the new vaccine against H5N1 before we even know whether a pandemic is coming ... Earlier this month, [Bush] suggested using the military to enforce a quarantine...This is an example of a cure that is as frightening as the disease. ? Suppose that a government official today decided to round up exposed people and move them to a space like the Superdome in New Orleans. ... [D]epending on how densely packed people were, you could expect the flu strain trapped among them to increase in virulence. You'd be breeding a deadlier flu."

staff&nbspreports - Free-Market News Network

[Dave Ridley]

This is a good time for all of us to update our disaster kits or make one if you don't have one.   Don't forget to pack ammo

Best barter items in a major crisis are thought to be toilet paper, ammo and bleach.   TP best one to store if you have plenty of space...ammo better if you have little space but can keep it dry and aren't worried about fire in that spot. 

[Russell Kanning]

Didn't they also plan for a hurricane in NOLA?