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.
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.
