H5N1 is the virulent strain that causes avian influenza or bird flu. This strain is commonly present in the gut of the wild migratory birds but due to their natural resistance it does not have any effect on them. When wild and domestic stocks mix and the strain passes over to domestic poultry, it turns fatal. This has been clearly indicated by recent large scale outbreaks in China and other South East Asian countries.

Strong measures including quarantine and culling by health authorities did not stop the spread of the infection, which soon emerged in far away places like Africa and Europe. India was badly hit by the outbreak and Central and State Government departments took emergency steps to contain its spread and provide relief to those poultry farmers who lost their entire stock in the process.

As all were concentrating on measures to contain the virus, news came of the H5N1 virus infecting some humans who were in the close proximity of the infected birds and were constantly exposed to their body secretions. It took a while for medical scientists to analyse the infection but once it was confirmed, another battle front needed immediate attention.

WHO (World Health Organisation) lead the global fight against H5N1 virus and world wide pharmaceutical companies began manufacturing anti flu drugs. Some of the most noted and effective drugs against bird flu are Amantadine, Relenza, Rimantadine, Tamiflu and Oseltamivir. These drugs when administered shortly after infection set in were successful to varying degrees in fighting the virus and its flu type symptoms.

In some severe cases of bird flu, respiratory track complications lead to fatalities. Health authorities were concerned about human to human infection. This was reported from some areas but it was also observed that the infection did not persist beyond the second host. If this had not been the case we would have been living through a worst nightmare of modern times.

It is natural to panic when such a virus strain spreads defying geographical limits. Some people began to hoard anti flu drugs fearing a major outbreak. Luckily it did not come about. Today the virus seems to have gone dormant once again. But this is the most critical period that we should utilise to strengthen our defenses and put into place contingency measures which will automatically kick-in in the case of the next major outbreak.

Poultry management techniques have since been reviewed and altered to include stringent health check-ups of domestic birds. A proactive approach is necessary to prevent another incident. Hopefully we will learn from past experience and provide for a safe future.

“Join our fight against counterfeit drugs.”

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H5N1 is the virulent strain that causes avian influenza or bird flu. This strain is commonly present in the gut of the wild migratory birds but due to their natural resistance it does not have any effect on them. When wild and domestic stocks mix and the strain passes over to domestic poultry, it turns fatal. This has been clearly indicated by recent large scale outbreaks in China and other South East Asian countries.

Strong measures including quarantine and culling by health authorities did not stop the spread of the infection, which soon emerged in far away places like Africa and Europe. India was badly hit by the outbreak and Central and State Government departments took emergency steps to contain its spread and provide relief to those poultry farmers who lost their entire stock in the process.

As all were concentrating on measures to contain the virus, news came of the H5N1 virus infecting some humans who were in the close proximity of the infected birds and were constantly exposed to their body secretions. It took a while for medical scientists to analyse the infection but once it was confirmed, another battle front needed immediate attention.

WHO (World Health Organisation) lead the global fight against H5N1 virus and world wide pharmaceutical companies began manufacturing anti flu drugs. Some of the most noted and effective drugs against bird flu are Amantadine, Relenza, Rimantadine, Tamiflu and Oseltamivir. These drugs when administered shortly after infection set in were successful to varying degrees in fighting the virus and its flu type symptoms.

In some severe cases of bird flu, respiratory track complications lead to fatalities. Health authorities were concerned about human to human infection. This was reported from some areas but it was also observed that the infection did not persist beyond the second host. If this had not been the case we would have been living through a worst nightmare of modern times.

It is natural to panic when such a virus strain spreads defying geographical limits. Some people began to hoard anti flu drugs fearing a major outbreak. Luckily it did not come about. Today the virus seems to have gone dormant once again. But this is the most critical period that we should utilise to strengthen our defenses and put into place contingency measures which will automatically kick-in in the case of the next major outbreak.

Poultry management techniques have since been reviewed and altered to include stringent health check-ups of domestic birds. A proactive approach is necessary to prevent another incident. Hopefully we will learn from past experience and provide for a safe future.

“Join our fight against counterfeit drugs.”

http://www.google.com

One extremely huge security risk that would come from a bird flu pandemic is nuclear power plants.

Right now, about 17% of the world’s electricity is produced by nuclear power plants.

There’re over 400 nuclear power plants currently in operation around the world — over 100 of them in the United States alone.

The total varies a lot by country. France relies on nuclear power more than any other country — using nuclear power to generate 75% of the country’s electricity.

The United States currently gets about 15% of its electricity from nuclear power. That is an overall percentage. Your area may be much higher or lower.

Although the construction of nuclear power plants has stopped in the United States and almost all of Europe, due to concerns about the safety of these plants and of what to do with the nuclear waste generated by them, it’s continuing in Asia and some other areas.

Disclaimer: I was a anti-nuke activist at one time. I worked extensively on an electoral petition drive which would have banned the operation of nuclear power plants in the state of Missouri until there was a safe, permanant storage facility for nuclear waste. That was 1980, not a good election to promote anything at all “liberal,” so our proposal failed to pass.

But it’s possible we played at least a small part in Union Electric’s decision to cancel their proposed Calloway II nuclear power plant.

I used to be completely proud of that. Now, I’m not so sure. I haven’t completely turned around on this issue, as I have on so many I used to be a leftwing radical on. I recognize the world’s great need for electricity. However, all the nuclear waste bothers me. After all the half-life of plutonium is 250,000 years.

Of course, the greatest potential danger from a nuclear power plant is the meltdown of its core.

The heart of a nuclear reactor is the core where uranium enriched with U-235 sits.

The U-235 is split, making it give off two or three neutrons. If these neutrons strike other U-235 atoms, then they are split and the nuclear fission reaction continues as long as there’re atoms of U-235.

This fission reaction gives off heat, which is used to heat water to steam, which turns a turbine which creates electricity.

So nuclear power is basically just a fancy way to boil water.

If, on average, less than one neutron hits another U-235 atom, then the reaction is called sub-critical and the reaction will die out.

If, on average, one neutron hits one other U-235 atom, then the reaction is called critical and the reaction will continue. Nuclear power plants maintain this level to generate a stable amount of heat to run the turbine.

If, on average, one neutron hits more than one other U-235, then the reaction is called supercritical.

This is where it gets dangerous. Contrary to what some fear, the core of a nuclear reactor can’t go off like an atomic bomb — the U-235 is not that much enriched. The fission reaction can’t become supercritical fast enough to explode.

However, it can continue to heat up until the physical structure melts down and forms a superdense, superheavy ball. So heavy and dense that theground is not strong enough to hold it, so it falls through the soil of the Earth. In theory, it could go to the core of the planet and keep on until it reaches the opposite side.

Since the opposite side of the United States is China, we call this this the China Syndrome.

This would release a tremendous amount of radioactivity. If you watch the movie The China Syndrome you’ll hear an expert say it would render an area the size of Pennsylvania uninhabitable for eons.

The focus is usually on the area surrounding the site of the former nuclear power plant, but I think that the hole left on the other side of the planet would also release a lot of radioactivity.

I don’t know whether anybody’s ever asked geologists how sending a superdense ball through the core of the planet would affect its internal structure. Probably it would create at least some instability and cause volcanos and earthquakes.

A nuclear reactor meltdown is something no sane person wants to happen.

Unfortunately, there are some insane people out there — including many islamo-fascists who believe that their religion justifies any actions which kills infidels. As a note left by one of the Spanish train bombers reads: “You love life. We love death.”

Therefore, any country containing nuclear power plants must make protecting them their number one priority during a serious bird flu pandemic.

They must protect against accidental error due to a shortage of trained personnel. Plus they must protect against deliberate damage from a terrorist group taking advantage of the bird flu pandemic.

The level of the reaction in the core is adjusted by using control rods that absorb neutrons. If the fission reaction gets too strong, the people operating the plants must insert enough control rods to reduce it. Or stop it when necessary.

Plus, water is used to keep the core cool.

One danger will be that the plant is not properly taken care of, due to death and illness of employees.

Therefore, all nuclear power plant personnel should be kept isolated from the rest of the population. If they’ve possibly been exposed to bird flu, if possible they should remain in a quarantine for at least 5 days to make sure they’re not infected, before being in contact with the other people.

They should also receive all available medical care. They should have their own doctor and nurse and supply of antiviral medicines and nutritional supplements.

This includes nuclear plant security guards.

In fact, extra guards should be sent to watch over nuclear power plants to prevent terrorists attacks. Even if they must come from military units.

It might be impossible to quarantine these new security guards, so shifts should be kept separated from each other to reduce the chances that one of them will spread bird flu to others.

The military unit surrounding the power plant should remain on the perimeter so there’s no chance they spread an avian flu infection to either the regular plant guards or other plant workers.

If nuclear power plant personnel do start coming down with bird flu or feel that they cannot maintain a critical reaction at a safe level, for any reason — they should have orders to shut the reactor down with control rods to prevent a meltdown.

Another weak point is that the plant must be supplied with enough water to keep the core cool. Therefore, it’s critical that this source of water be safeguarded against problems caused either by bird flu death/illness or terrorists.

It would also be a good idea to patrol the air space above the power plant. If well constructed, they should be strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a crashed airplane, but who wants to depend on that?

Shipments of nuclear fuel to the power plant should be suspended if at all possible.

Shipments of nuclear waste from the power plant should certainly be suspended for the duration of the bird flu pandemic.

Although it is desirable to keep the power plant generating electricity throughout the pandemic, it may be pointless. That’s because shortage of electric utility personnel during the pandemic could create massive electrical shortages throughout the grids anyway.

If the power plant generates electricity but it doesn’t benefit anyone because too many wires are down and can’t be repaired, it’s smarter to just turn the plant down as far as possible — and the people working there should just wait out the pandemic.

During a bird flu pandemic, protecting nuclear power plants must be a country’s number one priority.

The H5N1 virus pandemic will kill many people, but certainly not everybody. And it will go away within 3 to 12 months.

A nuclear power plant will kill everybody within many miles, and radiation will continue as a health hazard for an uncountable number of generations.

fficially a pandemic and honestly, I’m a little scared. River is only 8 months old and in babies and pregnant women, swine flu can be very serious. The pandemic has taken 29 lives in the UK so far, (with the majority of these cases seeing underlying health issues), including a pregnant woman, a baby and children.

A report in US News, “Dealing with the Swine Flu Threat During Pregnancy” brought up some salient points which every pregnant woman needs to know about.

Firstly, pregnant women and children have been advised to get the H1N1 vaccination when it comes out in the next month or so, but the question is should pregnant women and children be one of the first or last to receive this vaccination? The vaccination is so new that this would effectively be a mass drugs trial to which we do not definitely know the outcome. “Just today, public health experts said that there’s no way to know if any rare side effects will occur in the new vaccine until millions of people are vaccinated. Those unknowns would make an expectant mom especially nervous.” Deborah Kotz, US News

Secondly, flu vaccinations contain thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that was banished from other childhood vaccines several years ago but is still used in most flu vaccines.

Studies on mercury have shown that this element passes into the brain and remains there. Mercury can have profound effects on a developping fetus, which is why pregnant women are advised not to eat shellfish, tuna, shark, mackerel, king and tilefish. (A good pregnancy diet and exercise should take this into account, so if you are following a specific pregnancy fitness program, you should be safe.)

There are thimerosal-free versions of the vaccine available but you may struggle to find a doctor who stocks this.

“John Iskander, the previous head of immunization safety at the CDC, told me last fall that the reason the agency doesn’t recommend thimerosal-free vaccines is because “there’s still not enough women receiving the flu vaccine, and we don’t want to throw up another barrier in the vaccination process.” ” Deborah Kotz, US News

Lastly, pregnant women who have been exposed to someone who has the virus should get the antiviral drug Tamiflu. This advice does not apply to non-pregnant women (or men in fact!).

The best thing you can do to make sure you stay healthy and fit during pregnancy is take proper precautions. Always wash your hands after being in a public place and it’s worth carrying a bottle of hand sanitizer in your handbag for occasions when you are out and there’s no access to a washbasin. Make sure your children have good hand hygeine too.

If you are pregnant and you do have symptoms, contact your GP straight away. Stay hydrated and stock up on nutrient dense foods.

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The Swine (H1N1) Flu, just like any other virus infection, it too has its own myths.  Here are the 10 most common ones.  Don’t we already have enough to worry about without imagining things?  Why worry about things that are not even true.  Here are 10 of them.

Myth #1:  If I wear a surgical mask, I will be protected from getting the H1N1 swine flu virus

Fact:  While it is possible that wearing a surgical mask may be slightly helpful in preventing the "spread" of the swine H1N1 flu, it definitely will not guarantee you safe passage.  However, if you are wearing the mask around others who are infected with the virus, it will help protect you from the germs of their sneezes and coughs.  Otherwise, it can’t hurt to wear a surgical mask but just do not let yourself be lulled into a false sense of complete protection against the swine Flu virus.

Myth #2:  You cannot die from the swine flu virus

Fact:  Nothing is further from the truth.  You can die from the swine flu virus.  People across the world are dying from it everyday.  However, so as not to overly alarm you, it must also be pointed out that most people will "not" die from it.  The truth of the matter is that the H1N1 virus can prove fatal in people who have already have a compromised immune system.  Some people get very sick from this virus while other only report mild symptoms.  Please remember that it is vitally important that you take the anti-viral medication that will help reduce the intensity of your swine flu symptoms.  Is is also extremely important to remember that you should avoid contact with other people for at least 24 hours after your fever subsides.  You do not want to give it to anyone else.

Myth #3:  Infection from the swine flu only happens if you have direct contact with a pig.

Fact:  While it has been reported by the CDC that in the past, swine flu has been spread between people and pigs, this most likely occurred with pig farmers who were in constant close contact with their pigs.  It is much more likely that the current swine flu is spread from human to human because of the liquid droplets and vapors that are expelled into the air from a contaminated person when they sneeze or cough.  If you were to come into contact with these droplets, or anything that had these droplets on it, you have a good chance of becoming infected with the virus yourself.

Myth #4:  We have never had an outbreak of the swine flu within the United States

Fact:  This is not true.  Throughout the years there has been several swine flu outbreaks in the United States.  In 1967, five soldiers from Fort Dix, New Jersey were contact in an outbreak of the swine flu.  All five of them became infected and one of them died.  However, according to the experts, some of the conditions that worsened this swine flu outbreak was brought on by the fact that they were living in a very stressed conditions and very close military quarters.  Also, in Wisconsin in 1988, there was a mild outbreak of the swine flu in heath care workers who worked in close proximity with their patients.

Myth #5:  The elderly, young adults and the children are all equally at risk.

Fact:  Apparently, it has come to light that ones immune system strength may not be a significant factor with the H1N1 virus.  But, the jury is still out on this and is not certain. It is believed that, just like the avian flu and the SARS outbreaks, it is more a factor of how your own body reacts to the virus rather than the virus itself.  But, it should also be kept in mind that the majority of cases investigated so far in the U.S. have proven to be rather mild.  It really is uncertain how the young and healthy people in Mexico were dying.  It has been suggested that perhaps the virus had already mutated into a stronger variation.  It is also important to know that the antiviral medication TAMIFLU is proving to be a highly effective treatment for the swine flu, provided you see you doctor  as soon as possible after getting sick.

Myth #6:  Eating pork will increase your chances of getting swine flu.

Fact:  The swine flu was named so because of a flu that pigs were getting in the Northern hemisphere. But, there is no correlation between swine flu and eating pork or pork products.  However, you must remember that eating any not properly prepared or partially cooked meats will certainly increase your risk of bacterial infections and viruses. No, you do not get swine flu (H1N1) from eating pork of any kind.

Myth #7:  The H1N1 virus is much riskier than the 2000-2003 SARS pandemic.

Fact:  This is definitely "not" true.  This pandemic caused 774 deaths before it was stopped.  That’s approximately 10% of those infected with the virus!  The United States had 10 or fewer deaths while the remainder are believed to be in China.

Myth #8:  The seasonal influenza vaccination can help prevent the H1N1 virus infection.

Fact:  The CDC has said that the anti-viral medicines and remedies along with the seasonal influenza vaccination can help decrease the "symptoms" of the H1N1 Swine flu, BUT, it is definitely not a preventive measure or cure.  Only the H1N1 vaccines can do this job efficiently.

Myth #9:   Tamiflu will cure the H1N1 virus.

Fact:  This is definitely a bad myth as Tamiflu will help lessen your symptoms once you get the virus, but, it will not cure the flu.. The Tamilflu antiviral medication has been shown to decrease the length of  your  infection by a few days, but nothing else.

Myth #10:  If I get a fever along with the other flu symptoms, that means I have the H1N1 swine flu and I need to get to the hospital or see a doctor.

Fact:  If you are a normal healthy person it is actually suggested that you  stay home rather than risk infecting others.  However, if you are susceptible to asthma attacks, have a weakened immune system, or lung disease, it is suggested that you do seek medical attention as soon as possible.

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