Death flu!

[nacho]

Okay, in honor of the case in Turkey -- which the US media says is a sign that the flu is ON THE MOVE and SOON TO DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE we'll look at the full story:

By BENJAMIN HARVEY
Associated Press Writer


VAN, Turkey


Sumeyya Mamuk considered the chickens in her backyard to be beloved pets. The 8-year-old girl fed them, petted them and took care of them. When they started to get sick and die, she hugged them and tenderly kissed them goodbye. The next morning, her face and eyes were swollen and she had a high fever. Her father took her to a hospital, and five days later she was confirmed to have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

"The chickens were sick. One had puffed up and she touched it. We told her not to. She loved chickens a lot," her father, Abdulkerim Mamuk, said of the second youngest of his eight children. "She held them in her arms."

Her oldest brother, Sadun, said Sumeyya loved animals and took care of puppies and kittens in Van's Yalim Erez neighborhood.

When her mother saw Sumeyya holding one of the dying chickens, she yelled at her and hit the girl to get her away.

Sumeyya began to cry. She wiped her tears with the hand she'd been using to comfort the dying chicken.

"She wiped her face," said her father, speaking in broken Turkish and wearing a leather jacket and a typical Kurdish headdress in their bright, clean home. "She started to swell. She had a really high fever."

Following a few tense days when her family worried if she would recover, Summeya's condition has improved due to quick treatment with the antiviral drug Tamiflu, said Dr. Huseyin Avni Sahin, chief physician at the Van 100th Year Hospital.

But at least two other children have died of the same virus in Turkey, and as of Tuesday, 15 people had tested positive for infection in preliminary tests. Many are children.

The disease also appears to be spreading.

In parts of the world where the virus has been deadly _ until now only in East Asia _ children like Summeya have been the worst hit.

"It was the same in Asia," said Dr. Guenael Rodier, a scientist with the World Health Organization who has been chasing the virus around the world. "It mainly occurred in family clusters of small size, and mainly in children."

Even if not animal lovers like Sumeyya, children in poor agricultural towns tend to be extremely comfortable with the animals they share their lives with. It has been particularly difficult to convince them that this proximity can now be dangerous.

In Dogubayazit, the Turkish town near the Iranian border where most of the current cases originated, children usually outnumbered workers in trying to round up chickens for culling. Boys and girls led cows and sheep down the main streets. As adult out-of-towners fled from terrifying dogs that snarled from nearly every backyard, little local children giggled.

As the H5N1 bird flu virus spreads, scientists monitoring it for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans say education on its dangers is crucial to fighting it. Rodier said his organization was considering implementing a program aimed solely at rural children.

"It's child behavior," he said. "They play with everything."

As for Sumeyya, she is expected to be released from the hospital and join her family and her other pets _ dogs, cats and cows _ in the next few days.

"She's gotten better," Sahin said. "In a few days, she'll be released."

In this thread, when the next person gets bird flu 14 years from now, we'll follow the saga of this deadly pandemic!

[stompakitty]

What are the symptoms?

Cuz my thighs are a little itchy today...

[nacho]

It all begins with the thighs, man!  You're patient zero in North America!  Next time you post, 99.5% of the population will be dead and I'll be checking the internet in between setting up a subsistence farm and having sex with a beautiful woman who also survived.  Or I may not post because we'll be on a series of adventures across the countryside before settling down in a mansion out in the country with a group of lovable survivors.

[monkey!]

I'm patient X in the UK.

"X" for XXXTREME!

I'll take down the Columbian government.

[nacho]

It's coming!




Maybe, in another three years, up to 200 people will be dead!  I'm not sure, has it outdone deaths from the regular flu yet? 

[Nubbins]

It's coming!

Nice cock. 

[stompakitty]

It's coming!

Based on this picture alone, I find that difficult to establish. How can you tell? Facial expression?

[nacho]

Oh:

Each year about 20,000 Americans die because of influenza or influenza related pneumonia.

http://www.nfid.org/library/influenza/what/body1.html

So 20,000 in the US vs. 200 worldwide.  Hmmm...

I know, I know, what if it...mutates!

[nacho]

Hey -- leading causes of death in the US in 1995.:

1 Heart Disease 737,563
2 Cancer 538,455
3 Cerebrovascular disease 157,991
4 Chronic obstructive lung disease 102,899
5 Unintentional injury 93,320
6 Pneumonia and Influenza 82,923
7 Diabetes 59,254
8 HIV and AIDS 43,115
9 Suicide 31,284
10 Chronic liver diseases 25,222

I sure hope I don't catch unintentional injury!  I think one of my cousins had that...it's not genetic, is it?

[RottingCorpse]

Nacho, you're the only person I know obsessed with bird flu for any reason.

[nacho]

Me and CNN, the Post, NPR...

I'm obsessed with the daily panic-mongering news coverage about something that kills fewer people than bicycle courier accidents on one city block.

[RottingCorpse]

daily panic-mongering news coverage

That pretty much sums up journalism in the 21st century.

Just turn it off or put down the paper, turn on C-Span, and fall asleep to the drone of the Alito hearings.

[nacho]

I find bird flu much more rewarding because people do die every once in a while.  That's the reason I was a history major.   And then, after that wonderful feast, and that stirring speech, he blinded his son, raped 40 women and wiped out three villages!  Please turn to chapter two.

[Matt]

I was watching a little bit of the Alito hearings. It seems like whoever chairs the committee just takes the opportunity to ask batshit crazy questions of the potential judicial nominee.

Senator: "What if ... pigs could fly, but our constitution outlawed flying by any creature, including pigs, but pigs had to fly for national security. Also, pigs are the only people who can perform abortions. Would you declare that law unconstitutional?"

Judge: "I...I beg your pardon?"

Senator: "ANSWER the question, DAMMIT!"

Judge: "Yes...wait, no?"

Senator: "HE'S INCONSISTENT!"

[RottingCorpse]

I'm not iumpressed unless there's death on a major scale. 9/11, Tsunami, Katrina though even that was a little disappointing.

Bird flu? Bah! Wake me up when the nukes go off.