Is Bird Flu a Threat?

[Ty]

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/17872-chinese-vet-says-authorities-concealed-h7n9-poultry-epidemic/

I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about the bird flu going on to the east of us and was wondering if it is something to be concerned about…My parents are wanting to bring me back to America before my semester is over because they are worried if it gets worse they may have to close airports and whatnot. I feel like it’s kind of hard to know how bad it really is because who knows if the numbers the government released are actually accurate

[Ben]

Quote:

they may have to close airports and whatnot

Unlikely since there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

H7N9 isn’t something you personally should be concerned about yet unless you work on a poultry farm or something similar.

[Ty]

according to this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/chinas-bird-flu-deaths_n_3097229.html

most of those infected haven’t had any contact with poultry

and when asked about it the CDPCC just said “”How did these people get infected? It’s a mystery,” instead of admitting its human to human now or possibly airborne

[Ben]

Currently the numbers of people infected are so small that it’s very difficult for them to tell anything. What they do see is that those infected are not passing that infection on to friends or family, thus there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. If it was airborne then we would be seeing a massive increase in new cases. Statistically speaking, you are MUCH more likely to get hit crossing the road than catch H7N9.

[teddybaby]

I thought this was pretty interesting considering that I got shit on all day sitting under a tree by Wuhouci.

“Migratory birds flying north over people’s homes and gardens could also be spreading the virus through their droppings, said David Hui, an infectious diseases expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “People can still get exposed to the fecal material with viruses without noticing it or without direct contact with poultry or wild birds themselves,” Hui said.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/04/18/bird-flu-h7n9.html

[teddybaby]

It looks like a case has now been found in the Hunan province.

“H7N9 might be one step closer to being able to become a pandemic than H5 is in nature at the moment.”

Statistically, yes, it seems very unlikely to catch it still as most of those infected are directly involved in handling poultry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22364628

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgottlieb/2013/04/30/were-not-prepared-for-chinas-deadly-bird-flu/

[Al the Dead]

Is bird flu a threat? – it is. To the birds. Heck even that famous chinese bird flu some years ago was a glorious 0.2% more effective in killing people then the usual flu which we have every day but somehow noone bothers. People….. math is such a hard science.

[Author]

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