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Home | Bird Flu
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The Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog
 The Department of Health and Human Services' Pandemicflu.gov website provides avian and pandemic flu information. The website has been running an interesting blog over the past several weeks to discuss and find the best ways to help Americans become more prepared for a possible influenza pandemic. Contributors to the blog are national leaders from the healthcare, faith-based, business and community sectors. The blog does allow comments.
On June 13, Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, convened a leadership forum on pandemic preparedness, which brought together highly influential leaders from the business, faith, civic and health care sectors to discuss how best to help Americans become more prepared for a possible influenza pandemic. The Department is hosting this five-week blog to expand the conversation as part of an ongoing effort by the Department to help Americans become more prepared. HHS does not edit blog postings and cannot ensure that all included links are functioning. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The blog will be coming to a close this week on June 27th but the archives will remain available. Recently the CDC released this scary chart that shows the risk posed by pandemic flu to the United States. A Cat 5 pandemic flu would leave over 1.8 million dead and close major cities for months on end. Even a Category 1 pandemic flu on the chart could create confusion and chaos -- nightmare scenarios for local governmental officials. It is easy to see the need for ongoing discussion and for the leadership blog. For those curious about the ongoing risk of a potential pandemic flu caused by the bird flu (H5N1) you can follow the news on H5N1 blog, the Flu Wiki Forum on the Bird Flu Twitter.
Posted on June 24, 2007
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Bird Flu Update 11-28-05
China denies it is covering up a Bird Flu outbreak after a Japanese WHO scientists claimed 300 had died from Bird Flu in China. H5N1, which is doing a terrific job of covering the spread of bird flu, also has posts of this story hereand here.
Sales of N95 respirators are soaring just like during the SARS outbreak.
The Bird Flu virus is mutating in China.
Does Tamiflu have side-effects? Like the teen suicides in Japan?
verbena-19 blogs that this is a cause for concern. An ABC News blog is also taking a closer look at the Tamiflu puzzle.
Don't catch the new bird flu computer virus.
The Tamiflu frenzy has lead to eBay halting Tamiflu auctions.
Shanghaiist offers a This Week in Bird Flu report.
The Bird Flu reminds Diane at Diane's Stuff of Stephen King's novel The Stand. Remember Captain Tripps?
Sci Scoop has a scary article about how to prepare for a bird flu pandemic
Danwei asks why can't the Chinese press report on bird flu properly?
Indonesia reports cases 12 and 13.
Bird Flu strikes Aceh which saw the worst from the 2004 Tsunami and earthquake.
Medpundit blogs about why the bird flu is less likely in U.S. livestock
How bird flu works according to HowStuffWorks.com.
8 Ways to Sunday blogs of Bird Flu hype.
Bird flu betting?
Sploid rounds up some bird flu stories.
No Parrot Kissing: Hong Kong warns citizens not to kiss their parrots.
The Amazing Wonderdog calculates the incalcuable suffering that a bird flu pandemic could bring.
Bayosphere discusses an article about neglect by Indonesian officials to stop bird flu from spreading in that country.
The WHO shows a total of 132 cases and 68 deaths in their latest update.
Filed in Bird Flu
Posted on November 28, 2005
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Bird Flu Update 10-16-05
Bird Flu posts on Technorati are averaging 20 per hour.
The H5N1 deadly strain of Bird Flu has been confirmed in Turkey and Romania.
Recombinomics has a map
of Bird Flu outbreaks.
The WHO Director General says Bird Flu is just one step away from becoming a pandemic.
Even the Google Blog is
covering the bird flu. This line downplays the situation a little too
much: "For now, avian flu is just a 'virus of interest' to medical
researchers." But the post had a nice short timeline of past killer
flu outbreaks:
1918-19: Spanish flu. Caused more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S., and 50 million worldwide.
1957-58: Asian flu. 70,000 deaths in the U.S.
1968-69. Hong Kong flu. 34,000 deaths in the U.S.
The Coming Influenza Pandemic blog has a large
collection of recent bird flu news stories.
The Working Families Party Man
asks if Bird Flu will have us all wearing masks.
"But the more I think about it, if they can't find a cure it's possible that
quarantining people may be the only thing we could do to slow down the avain
flu when it hits America. Because the way the experts are talking it's not
a matter of when or if. Will we all be walking around with masks on too?"
Flashback: During the Sars outbreak in Hong Kong they even had
decorated masks including Hello Kitty masks.
Think Progress says a Michael Brown clone will be in charge of FEMA.
I Called It has found someone named Mr. Pink who thinks Bird Flu might be a hoax. There is always a skeptic.
Brian's Notes informs us that there is now a Flu Wiki
There is a "Bird Bird (flu) of Happiness"
post but it's not all happy.
Thoughts of Dobby says those in management at his her workplace are discussing what office policies are available to deal with a Bird Flu outbreak.
The Long Black Veil is nervous about scientists' recreation of the killer 1918 flu virus -- which as we all now know originated as a flu virus in birds.
H5N1
discusses a Guardian
article that says British GP's are being informed that they should
prepare for 14 million flu victims.
Effective Measure revisits the issue of the Bird Flu's possible resistance to the Tamiflu drug.
Posted on October 16, 2005
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Bloggers Cover Emerging Bird Flu Threat
Bloggers and personal websites have been covering the bird flu (or avian flu) for years -- even before the terrifying Sars outbreak in Canada and Southeast Asia. However, as the disease has spread and there have been more warnings from scientists and government leaders about the possibility of an
unstoppable pandemic the number of bird flu bloggers has increased.
Even more alarming was a recent study that found that the
flu virus that caused the deadly 1918 flu pandemic also originated in birds just like the H5N1 strain that looms as a human threat today. There have also been recent reports of the disease spreading into Europe. A
timeline provided by Nature shows how the threat from bird flu
has expanded since the first outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997.
Here are some recent coverage of the bird flu in the blogosphere:
Scientists discover that killer 1918 flu pandemic originated in birds.
BloggingWallStreet says:
Sure it's a problem in Asia. Asia's mostly third world countries and cities with chickens running loose in the streets. People in third world countries still keep chickens for their own nutrition. Very few people do so in the U.S. anymore and those that do are mostly very isolated living in rural locations where it would be more difficult for the virus to spread. It's such an annoying non-issue that I find myself shutting off the TV.
This is a common misconception about the risk from bird flu. The threat to the U.S. and other countries is not directly from chickens. The threat is if bird flu mutates and acquires the ability to transmit easily from human to human. If this happens chickens and other birds are no longer necessary to spread bird flu and the disease could spread like wildfire around the world.
Boing Boing says H5N1 is getting scarier every day. The post includes information that from the Financial Times that the bird flu has a 76% fatality rate.
Bush's Bird Flu martial law plan is unpopular.
Bird Flu or Avian Flu? Technorati shows 19,364 posts for "Bird Flu" and
9,684 posts for "Avain Flu" so it looks like bloggers prefer Bird Flu.
Bloggers frequently point to resources at the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the Wikipedia page for Avian Influenza.
Sin City responds to MSNBC.com's "No One... Is Ready" alarming bird flu feature. Just Chance is starting to get a little worried.
Here is a short list of blogs providing ongoing bird flu coverage:
The Coming Influenza Pandemic?
Avian Flu: Preparing for a
Pandemic?
Science News Blog
iFlu.org
Health News Blog
Avian Flu.. What we Need to Know
The Bird Flu Blog
The Flu News Blog
Bird Flu Watch
Bird Flu Monitor
Updated 10-11-05
We have set up a Bird Flu section where you can find updates and past coverage of bloggers blogging about the bird flu.
Posted on October 10, 2005
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Fictional Weblog Shows Flu Pandemic Risk
For all those who have attacked fictional blogs unnecessarily here is a fictional blog that has value. Declan Butler, Nature's senior
reporter in Paris, has written a fictional blog about a pandemic outbreak of bird flu that causes chaos, death and panic. The fictional blog is set in the future (beginning December, 2005) and written by freelance journalist in D.C. Here is an excerpt:
The Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service, the nation's
uniformed force of health professionals, has just been mobilized. The
US Northern Command is in charge of the military response. Soldiers
are setting up triage centres, anticipating overflowing emergency
rooms and morgues. Images are coming in of tent cities being erected
in New York's Central Park. Wards are being installed in schools and
churches. Troops are on the streets. "There's going to be civil
unrest," a general informed me on the phone this morning.
This is fiction and it is a blog and it is both useful and interesting. A fictional blog used this way can help create awareness of an important issue that many are unaware of. In Southeast Asia bird flu has been a growing and serious problem for the past few years. Scientists do not have a cure for the disease and many health experts believe it could eventually lead to a terrible outbreak like the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. The CDC recently called bird flu the biggest threat to the world.
Posted on May 27, 2005
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