Just How Bad Is Bird Flu?

Bird flu has been over hyped as everything from the Andromeda Strain to the next bubonic plague. It has killed millions of birds – and about 100 people WORLDWIDE since 2003. That means that all of the fuss, all of the national and state pandemic influenza plans, all of the money spent was all for nothing. This writer, for one, would like to get her part of the bill back.

Besides, no one knows just what will happen during a pandemic. We think we have an idea of when any kind of emergency happens, and then when it does, it always winds up being not quite what we expected. We have only to look at the complete muddle and confusion after hurricane Katrina to know that no one in the government knows what they are doing when it comes to an emergency. So, the current pandemic influenza plan is not only useless, but unnecessary.

But you are far more likely to become a victim of a natural disaster like a flood or a hurricane than you ever will be of the bird flu. A disease that only kills a few people a year is NOT something that we should worry about when we are puffing on our cigarettes, swilling back our beer, chomping on our steaks and watching NASCAR.

Does Anyone Have A Receipt?

There are, of course, far more contagious diseases out there than the bird flu, which was why there is a pandemic influenza plan. It is part of your national, state or local emergency plan which can cover anything from a natural disaster to a terrorist attack. If you want a good laugh (and you paid for it, so you might as well laugh as you can), go to the PandemicFlu.gov website to find out the pandemic influenza plan in your area. You will find that there are no plans actually listed on the site whatsoever.

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Three Different Types Of Viruses

There are three different types of influenza: type A, type B and type C. These are the three influenza virus strains that humans can contract. The differences between the three influenza virus strains are by what carries the disease and how the particular influenza virus strain changes. Type A is the most common type that is found and carried in wild birds. Birds who carry the type A influenza virus strain rarely get sick from the virus. Domestic poultry can, however, be susceptible to contracting the flu.

On the subject of strain changes, the type A influenza virus strain is the type that finds itself in the antigenic drift category. This means that the influenza virus strain changes over a long period of time. The changes can be kept up with in the yearly flu shots that you can get from your doctor.

Type B influenza virus strain can be found in the antigenic shift change category. This is the change in the virus strain that happens much more quickly and usually happens right in the middle of the flu season and can be serious for people at risk for complications from contracting the flu. Normally, when an antigenic shift happens, there is little doctors can do to prevent it from spreading besides normal prevention from getting sick.

The best way to keep you and your family from having to deal with a new influenza virus strain is to get your annual flu shot. Even if a new strain appears and the shot does not protect you from the new strain, it will still protect you from all of the older strains. It would also be a good idea to make sure to take regular precautions such as keeping your hands over your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing. Wash your hands often and avoid coming into contact with someone that you know has the flu or flu-like symptoms. This way, you will be able to protect you and your family from contracting any strains of flu that may not be covered by your flu shot that year.

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Does The Bird Flu Vaccine Bring Good News?

The efficiency of the bird flu vaccine is a bit too early to tell. Ever since its release, it has still not yet been tested by a large group of people. However, laboratory studies have shown that the people who have been given shots with this type of vaccine showed immune responses against the deadly strain of influenza virus. If it works for some people, then it can only mean that the vaccine may work on other people as well. For now, all we have to do is wait and hear for the next good news to come.

Why Is The Bird Flu Vaccine In Shortage?

Recent reports have revealed that the bird flu vaccine is in shortage. If it hasn’t been used globally, why is there a shortage on the vaccines? Well, there can only be one reason for that. And that reason is stockpiling by several governments agencies. It is said that the U.S. government alone is keeping four million doses in their laboratory. Some countries like France ordered a million to be stocked in case an outbreak is to happen. Poor countries that do not have sufficient funds for vaccine hoarding are not being given any stock of the vaccine against the deadly avian virus.

What Are The Side Effects Of A Bird Flu Vaccine?

There are only four side effects to expect when given a bird flu vaccine shot. These include headaches, general ill feeling, muscle pain and tenderness at the injection site. Aside from this, there are no other significant effects. More over, there have been no recorded instances when adverse effects took place upon the shot injection.

How Is Bird Flu Vaccine Different From Other Flu Shots?

The bird flu vaccine is different in the sense that it can provide defense against several types of viruses. It is proven to work not only against avian flu but other flu problems as well. In a one-month interval, two shots are to be given to the person. After several weeks, one can test the immunity against different influenza viral strains.

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Flu is usually spread through contact with an infected person. Contact can be through droplets expelled from the infected person as well exposure to food and drinks containing the virus. Preventing exposure to flu is the best way to stay healthy and strong. Practicing good hygiene before eating is a good way to avoid flu virus exposure.

Flu Symptoms

Flu symptoms and treatment vary depending on what kind of flu you may have. Fever is a common symptom when you have the flu and so are headaches, muscular aches and lethargy or being extremely tired. Other types of flu may cause runny noses and other cold like symptoms. Stomach flu has nausea, diarrhea and vomiting as common symptoms. Since flu symptoms and treatment varies depending on what type of flu you may have, you need to be more familiar with the symptoms of the different kinds of flu.

Symptoms of the flu can take a turn for the worse if left unattended and at times they just grow worse even if you are doing something to temper the ailment. These flu symptoms need not be all present for you to assume that you have the flu. Some may have no fever or have no muscular aches or headaches.

Flu Treatment

Many doctors agree that flu symptoms and treatment may be different depending on what you may have. Ordinary flu treatment and treatment for bird flu are similar though, compared to stomach fu treatment. Doctors have discovered that bird flu can be treated with the drugs used to treat ordinary flu since their strains are very similar to each other. These include Oseltamivir and Zanamivir. These two drugs actively attack the virus that causes flu in individuals. In spite of these antiviral drugs, prevention is still key to less exposure to flu and contraction of it.

Rest and drinking lots of fluids are other ways of treating flu. Giving your body ample rest to recuperate and gather energy as well as resistance to the virus can help. Drinking lots of fluids can help flush out the harmful virus as well as re-hydrate you, especially when you have a fever or are experiencing stomach flu or gastroenteritis.

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What A Patient Reports

At the early stage of influenza, a patient usually complains of unexplained fatigue. More often than not, the sick person experiences general exhaustion. Aside from exhaustion and weariness, a person often complains of the usual early influenza signs such as body ache and muscle pain. Of course, these influenza signs typically appear out of the blue and are non-related to any physical activity. The signs should be reported and detected at an early time so that proper management can be given right away.

The influenza signs also worsen especially if the person enters the late stage of the disease. The patient will usually report a stuffy nose and headaches that are severe and occur at any time of the day. Fever may also appear abruptly during the later stage and will gradually cease as the disease progresses. Whichever stage a person is in, it is very important to take notice of these indicators. The patient should report the influenza signs as well.

The Treatments

The treatment for both stages of influenza signs is symptomatic and supportive. For example, you have to take analgesics if you are experiencing fever. You should also have a cool sponge bath to lower your temperature, sometimes with alcohol for extremely high fevers. Body fatigue can be addressed with complete rest. As much as possible, you need to avoid stress especially if you feel that the influenza signs are worsening. Most importantly, you have to see a doctor and ask for a proper treatment. The health professional will be able to give you the right care that should be given for an influenza patient. There are new treatments being found everyday. Most influenza treatments seek to ease the symptoms until the infection has a change to run its course.

If you incorporate all these measures, you can easily recover from the influenza signs that you feel. You need to comply with the treatment regimen that the doctor gives you so that full recovery from the disease can be made possible.

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The First And The Worst

In the history of the twentieth century, the first and worst flu pandemic occurred in 1918. Known as the Spanish Influenza, the epidemic did not actually begin in Spain. Rather, most experts today believe that this pandemic began in Fort Reilly, Kansas in the United States. Overall, this pandemic lasted barely a year and killed about 20 million people worldwide. In the United States, about 500,000 people died.

Smaller Scares

Though this is one of the most famous pandemics in the history of the flu, it is not the only one. Several other pandemics followed, each causing more damage but not nearly to the degree of the earlier tragedy. In 1957, the Asian flu killed 70,000 Americans, and 1,000,000 people around the world. This flu pandemic, the second in the history of the twentieth century, is thought to have started in China.

The last flu pandemic in the twentieth century is known as the Hong Kong Flu, and it killed about 34,000 Americans in 1968. By this time, many elderly were already immune to the virus and the strain also contained proteins that humans had already been exposed to. This contributed to the relatively low death rate.

A Future Of Fear

Though the fear of another major flu pandemic in human history lessened with the creation of a flu vaccination, a new variation of the flu has emerged and brought forth new fears. Though avian flu has existed throughout history, it is only recently that humans have begun to be affected by this virus.

This brings into question the security that the flu vaccine has allowed. Will the next pandemic be the bird flu pandemic? Will it be the worst one in history?

Learning From The Past

Because of a recent history of flu pandemics, scientists and doctors are fairly experienced in dealing with the negativities. This experience should serve them well in the case of a potential avian flu outbreak, however it might not be all they need to prevent a pandemic.

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Care To Make A Bet?

In 2007, American health officials (including veterinarians, CDC personnel and infectious disease experts) held a betting pool for when the Asian bird flu pandemic would start. To win the bed, one human in Hong Kong had to positively come down with bird flu on the prospective date. The cut off date (to end the bet) was July 1, 2007. It’s safe bet that the bird flu pandemic will never start.

Why All The Fuss?

Over the last few years, there certainly has been a lot of fuss about a prospective bird flu pandemic, and not just in the media. The threatening shadow of a looming bird flu pandemic has also been a constant topic of politicians and giant pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, which has been given scads of money to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans.

All of this nonsense about the imperative to develop and practice implementing a pandemic influenza plan and setting up emergency areas and vaccines has all been a smokescreen by world governments and big pharmaceutical companies in order to divert the public’s attention from the real serious problems of the world.

Unfortunately, a lot of the serious problems in our world are very intangible and have very baffling causes. These problems include our rapidly declining environment, world poverty and abuses of all sorts. However, there isn’t one source we can point our finger at and say, “That’s the enemy. Let’s go get him.”

So now, our enemy is a bird flu pandemic. This is a sort of biological terrorist that threatens baseball, apple pie and good old Mom. As long as we can fight against bird flu, then all of our other problems will be solved. This is sort of mindset our parents used to keep us in line when they told us stories of the boogeyman. Well, we’re grown up now. We don’t need a boogeyman any longer.

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Taking The Proper Precautions To Prevent The Flu

You will first want to get a flu shot when your doctor recommends it. The flu shot to protect you from the human influenza virus is usually given a few weeks to a month or more before the flu season gets underway. It is the best way for you and your family to protect yourself against the human influenza virus. It will protect you from three different strains of the flu. It is also very important to get a vaccine for the human influenza virus for those who are at risk of serious complications or are in close contact of those people. Some groups at risk of complications are those who are 65 years old or older, young children and pregnant women.

The vaccine is usually available to everyone who wants to get one. It is important to get vaccinated each year in order to protect yourself against the newer strains of the human influenza virus. To prevent yourself from contracting the flu, you will want to take the normal precautions when in public. Make sure to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. Also, do not leave used tissues lying around. Throw them out.

If you do contract the flu, you will want to seek medical attention immediately, especially if you are at risk for getting complications. There are drugs that can be given to treat the flu and prevent infections. You will want to see a doctor within forty-eight hours after the symptoms begin. If you develop symptoms before your yearly flu shot, your doctor will decide whether it will be best to give you antiviral drugs as treatment.

The human influenza virus is the cause for quite a few flu related deaths every year that may have been prevented if the person would have had their flu shot. Some, like those who contracted it earlier than the start of the major flu season, were probably less preventable. But it makes the case even stronger that flu shots do work, and everyone should get one.

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We usually get stomach flu from contact with someone who has it or the ingestion of food and beverages exposed to the virus. Children and those with lower resistance are more susceptible to stomach flu which is why it can be dangerous for these groups of individuals. Knowledge regarding stomach flu symptoms and treatment can be very helpful especially if it concerns children or the elderly.

Symptoms Of The Stomach Flu

The symptoms of stomach flu include but are not limited to abdominal pain and maybe some cramping, vomiting, a low grade fever, watery stool, sometimes nausea and headaches or muscle aches. The need for immediate stomach flu treatment is due mainly to the symptoms, which are diarrhea and vomiting. These symptoms can cause dehydration, which can be dangerous if left unattended.

The symptoms of stomach flu usually appear two to three days after contact with an infected person or ingestion of exposed food. Symptoms may recede in as little as two days after they appear or may last as much as ten days. Stomach flu treatment should be administered immediately upon diagnosing the problem to avoid complications.

Stomach Flu Treatment And Prevention

The best stomach flu treatment is re-hydration since there is no medication that can effectively stop the effects of this virus. Re-hydration as a stomach flu treatment should be accomplished by giving fluids to the patient to drink frequently, especially when diarrhea and vomiting are present. Intravenous fluids can also be part of stomach flu treatment especially if vomiting is consistent and the case is severe.

Since there is no effective stomach flu treatment other then hydration, prevention is a must. The best way to prevent gastroenteritis is to be fastidious with your hygiene especially when it comes to food and beverages. Wash hands when you come in contact with someone with the virus and before you eat or drink anything. As much as possible be aware of the foods and drinks being served to you.

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Most influenza cases become irreversible when care is given at a later time. However, most of the infected population begins to seek for help only when the influenza symptoms become worse. Therefore, it is necessary to seek help from a proper professional in order to thwart off the disease at an earlier time.

What Are The Early Influenza Symptoms?

Perhaps the most difficult part is determining if the symptoms observed are related to influenza. The early indicators are usually hard to ascertain because they present the milder form of the disease. Usually, the influenza symptoms appear much clearer during the later stage. However, it would still be helpful to know about the early influenza symptoms so you would know what to do or what to expect.

The early influenza indicators appear suddenly and are often perceived as insignificant. However, they are still considered to be early influenza symptoms since they unexpectedly conjure out of nowhere. The influenza signs you experience at the early stages include fever of 100F to 104F, muscle pains and body aches, pain upon the movement of your eyes, and general fatigue. If you happen to feel any of these especially during the cold season, then you should consider visiting your doctor.

What Are The Late Influenza Symptoms?

The late influenza symptoms usually appear as the severe form of the early indicators. The fever reaches higher degrees and may come and go at any time of the day and is continuous in pattern. The pain and fatigue you feel will also worsen as the influenza symptoms enter the late stage. Headaches would also be present and may happen in severe forms. Additionally, you would experience a runny nose or a dry sore throat. As the fever dies away, most of the symptoms become more evident. This is when the diagnosis of influenza is actually made.

It is helpful to treat the disease in its early stage. This way, you can easily rid yourself from the disease and you would avoid the later stage, which is quite bothersome and costly for you at the same time.

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