[gorgeous lucky luke]

if there is ever an actual outbreak.

Excuse me but in Indonesia at least six people have died in the last week! The medical proffesion are all saying it is just a question of time until bird flu, or somehing like it, mutates in just the right way as to cause maximum grief!

our scientific knowledge has evolved

Short of a vaccine, which for influenza type illnesses are not very successfull, the current state of Scientiffic knowledge is limmited to quarantine. That is going to be pretty difficult if wild birds are carrying it to the remotest corners of the Earth.

Ps Not only wild birds, cats also have caught it. Oh and a couple of thousand Chines, Vietnamese, Indonseians, Malasians etc

[LondoJowo]

Yes, pack up you cat before the avian flu begins to affect felines.

[jaboua]

Originally Posted by anomie

You mean the ones that didn't evolve?

Yup. The birds are another story...

[LondoJowo]

What needs to be done is those farmers in southest asia need to kill their chickens/ducks, burn them, and then disinfect the area where the birds were housed as well as the farmer's housing.

[gorgeous lucky luke]

What needs to be done is those farmers in southest asia need to kill their chickens/ducks, burn them, and then disinfect the area where the birds were housed as well as the farmer's housing.

They have tried that every flu season for the last four years, it has caused great economic hardship to some of the poorest people in the world, every year it returns and evry year it seems to be a liitle easier for the human population to catch.

Spannish flu, originaly started in the American Mid west in 1915 / 1916. It had worked its way into the trenches of the Great War by early 1918. However the big die off didn't actually start to happen untill they sent the troops home in 1919 1920 and 1921.

The primary vector was the returning troops and once the troops had returned, the outbreak died a natural death.

In this case the primary vector could be migrating birds. This is the reason why Avian Influenza is possibly the nightmare scenario.

[Roxoff]

Originally Posted by anomie

We may pollute the planet...

This is a huge myth... Some folk will always tell you that we're 'producing' carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels.

You see it's all about carbon in the atmosphere - a long time ago, plants grew, absorbed carbon (i.e. took carbon dioxide, stripped off the carbon, left the oxygen...) then died, rotted down, got compressed, concentrated and turned into coal, oil, (... diamonds!)

And now, we're taking that carbon out the ground and releasing it back into the atmosphere. Big deal. The earth will survive. The carbon was here before us, we're just 'recycling it'.

Ok, we might leave the planet in a state that isn't fit for us poor weedy humans, but hey, we wont harm the planet.

The only real pollution is from radioactive sources, which leave a residue which is harmful to all kinds of life (but not all life).

[LondoJowo]

They have tried that every flu season for the last four years, it has caused great economic hardship to some of the poorest people in the world, every year it returns and evry year it seems to be a liitle easier for the human population to catch.

Actually the farmers won't kill their fowl as it's too much of an economic hardship for them as there's no such thing as welfare in the region. This is why the bird flu comes back every year. I have a house in East Java, Indonesia. I know at the open air market they always have chickens/ducks that are killed on the spot because they don't have refrigeration.

[lakerdonald]

Originally Posted by gassman

I dont think this will be a black plague that was experienced in the Dark Ages they after all where Dark Ages because the churches ran countries. on the bird flu note i think our scientific knowledge has evolved enough where we could contain the outbreak if there is ever an actual outbreak.

In all fairness, if the people had only washed their hands, soap and water would have killed the germs which caused the Black Plague.

[anomie]

This is a huge myth... Some folk will always tell you that we're 'producing' carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels.

If you take five words out of the context of my paragraph, a lot of different interpretations become possible. I don't remember citing carbon dioxide or mentioning that pollution would do us in. (In fact, my argument was to the contrary.)

My point was: There is not going to be a huge, sudden event that wipes us all out (short of an asteroid splitting the planet in two - maybe not even then). Pollution falls under that category.

Doomsayers just need something to "prove" that the end is near. The human race is not invincible, but it is pretty resilient. (Not to mention that there are 6+ billion of us.)

[gorgeous lucky luke]

Actually the farmers won't kill their fowl as it's too much of an economic hardship f

Not really a big surprise ! You find exactly the same mentality in the west cf The early responses to mad cow disease, foot and mouth etc etc.

had only washed their hands

While the middle ages sadly lacked the concept of personal hygiene. The primary vectors of the black death were lice from the black rat and to a lesser extent close contact with infected people.

ot to mention that there are 6+ billion of us.

According to the Malthusian Population Law that is exactly where the danger lies.

Ps How does washing your hands kill the rats.