H5N1...????(bird flu)?!
Question:
H5N1...????(bird flu)?
I have a few questions...1.I heard a rumor that the new vaccine that the FDA just approved is useless now due to a new strain.
2.Do you think it would hit the USA before it is stoped if yes were do you think it will hit first?
3.Do you think this flu will be a VERY BAD one and like kill millions?
4.What are the chances of you surviveing in MA (masschusets) or if you get the flu will you have a chance of liveing to tell about it if you get to the hospital.
5.Do you think if this flu hits america and is human passed it will be mass CHAOS?
Answers:
Yes, the vaccine that they have now is based on the strain of the virus in Vietnam in 2004. It’s called a prepandemic vaccine. They are hoping that this vaccine would give some protection against the pandemic virus.
But the virus has mutated several times since 2004, and it will take at least 6 to 9 months to produce a vaccine for the virus that starts a pandemic. Viruses are developed specifically for each virus so they can’t make the vaccine until they have the virus.
I know many scientists who doubt that a prepandemic vaccine will work. Some years they guess wrong about the seasonal flu vaccine and it doesn’t match up with the virus that actually circulates. Those years there are lot more cases of flu even though the same number of people get shots.
I think it will definitely hit the U.S. before it will be stopped. Our problem will not be birds – it will be person to person spread.
There has been person to person spead already on a limited basis. Once it mutates to become easily passed from person to person there really isn’t any way to stop it.
All it will take is one person who travels to where ever it starts, becomes infected and flies home before symptoms starts. No one has immunity because it is a new virus and many people on the plane will be infected. Some of them will fly on to other cities. In each city an outbreak will start.
It will probably start in several cities at the same time, and it will spread quickly. It will probably take only days to cross the country or even to cross from one continent to another.
Yes, I think it will be very, very bad.
The flu pandemic in 1918 killed from 50 to 100 million people, and the fatality rate was about 2%. Right now the H5N1 virus has a fatality rate of over 60%. In Indonesia 85% of infected patients die. That does not need to go down when the virus passes from person to person easily.
Most of the fatalities are healthy children, teens and young adults.
The government is saying that 30% of us may be sick and that could go much higher.
Most people will not get treatment in a hospital. We do not have any extra hospital beds – even when they send everyone home who can be sent home – there will be a severe shortage of beds and ventilators. Most people will be cared for at home because there won’t be any other place for them. We won’t have enough antiviral medicine.
I do think there will be mass chaos because officials aren’t getting the message to people. They will close schools for up to three months during each wave (there will probably be two or three waves) They are also not telling people that they will be told to stay in their homes during that time – that means not leave for anything. That would reduce the infection rate.
We should be buying nonperishable food, water, baby food, pet food, medicine, etc. NOW.
No one likes to think about this, but unfortunately history tells us that pandemics happen and some of them are this bad. This virus appears to be one of the worst.
One of the world’s leading virologists says that this is the scariest virus he’s ever seen.