02.05.07

What’s Up With The Bird Flu Already?

Posted in General at 11:43 pm by ZoeWashburne

How much longer will the world be held captive by the threat of a new world pandemic caused by the so-called H5N1 bird flu virus?  The threat of a massive outbreak of the deadly virus that could possibly wipe out a huge chunk of the world population has been frightening the public for over three years now.  So, when exactly is it going to happen already? 

This week, Britain reported that 159,000 turkeys had to be slaughtered in order to prevent the spread of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, yet officials are telling the public to not worry about it and just go ahead and enjoy your poultry as usual.  “Experts” are claiming that there is no real chance that people will be infected by the disease, stating that your odds of winning the lottery are better, because they have the situation under control and the disease has been contained.  However, the question remains as to how the birds contracted the virus in the first place.  Poultry officials in Britain have gone to great lengths to report that the infected turkeys were kept inside a large shed at all times.  Okay, but then how exactly did the birds get infected in the first place then?  Hmmm, very peculiar!

All we’ve been hearing about for years now is how this strain of bird flu is very similar to the one in 1918 which was responsible for killing 50 million people around the world in a few short months.  However, the chairman of the Poultry Union in Britain announced to the public that there was absolutely no danger of catching the disease because it was a chicken’s disease, not a human’s disease.  Well, maybe someone should tell that to the 165 people that have already died from it so far.  I guess they weren’t very lucky then, huh?  Just like the 1918 outbreak, most people didn’t recognize or take the spread of the disease seriously until it was already well on its way to killing millions of people.  So, if there’s no chance of catching the disease, why are scientists so worried about it anyway?  I understand that it hasn’t fully mutated into a widespread outbreak and that handling standards of poultry are much higher in the western world than they are in Asia and other third world countries, but why do we constantly hear about the inevitable outbreak and then when a new case is reported it is brushed under the rug like so many molted chicken feathers?

Is this really a global tragedy waiting to happen that will unleash its deadly spread of disease at any moment or is it just another case of the “powers that be” using scare tactics to frighten us into submission?  As Americans continue to enjoy their chicken McNuggets and turkey dinners every Thanksgiving, should we be worried that birds will ultimately be the cause of our destruction?  Instead of killing Iraqis, shouldn’t we be launching our attack on our avian friends?  If you look at a map of the spread of the disease, it now covers all of Asia, most of Europe, and much of Africa.  This worries me, but I’m not sure why.  It seems that half of the world has already come into contact with the bird flu and no pandemic has occurred there yet.  So, is it just that the perceived threat of worldwide destruction is causing me to think twice before ordering another bucket of the Colonel’s chicken?  Are you worried?

Maybe I’m just being foolish, but I’m just not sure which way to go on this.  On the one hand, scientists are telling us that the end is near and we should all run for our lives, yet the government and the media are telling us that it’s okay, go ahead, have another crispy leg.  The mixed messages have seemed to achieve only one thing, the public is scared, but not enough to do anything about it.  Isn’t that the American way?

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