Highlights of avian flu session

[Mother]

Tonight my DH, DD and I attended an informational session on the Avian Flu at a local college. It was attended by about 75 people including the mayor of the city. The program was presented by Tara Smith, PhD. deputy director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Uiversity of Iow assistant professor of epidemiology. U of I has been awarded the task of helping to research at least one aspect of the avian flu.

 

In her hour long talk Ms. Smith told about flu viruses and how they mutated. She told how long they can incubate (1 to 4 days) and how long they can be infectious after the symptoms abate (5 days for adults, 10 days to 2 weeks for children). Live viruses can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours, in water up to 100 days and in manure up to 150 days. It can live in raw meat even if frozen, though not in cooked meat.

 

She said that there is not only the very real threat of a natural pandemic occuring but also of terrorism caused ones. She said it was extremely easy for even a student to come up with them at a labratory. The avian flu virus has seemingly mutated very fast in the last couple of years compared to what went before but that they really have no markers to study to see just what the mutation rate has been in the past.

 

She said that this is the first time in recorded history that wild birds could pass it on to other species and also die from it.

 

She talked about antivirals. She said that Tamiflu does not seem to be very effective for those who had the H5N1 but that it was pretty much what they had and was better than nothing. She said that 92% of even regular flu viruses are already resistant to other antivirals.

 

She reiterated what the government was doing about the possible pandemic, saying that they were supposed to have a plan in place back in 2003 already and that they had just this week finished a draft for it. (of course we already knew that from some good posts here) She said that she wasn't sure how much of it was inforcible but that they did have the authority to close schools, churches, businesses, public gatherings and etc. She said they would isolate anyone who was sick, could quarantine any and all who had been exposed and that they could close any and all areas if necessary.

 

She brought up every one of the things we already know about water and food supplies possibly being scarce or non-existant, transportation difficulties, about people dieing and mass graves and having no way to hold funerals. Possible shortages of hospital beds, respirators, staff, and medicines. Even if they DO come up with a vaccine, most will not get it even if it is effective and it won't come for the first wave of it for sure. She talked about masks and said that the research from the 1918 flu and other epidemics show that there was no difference in mortality rates from populations that wore masks and those that didn't. Probably because they had no training in the proper usage of masks and gloves. (meaning that you can't just pull that mask down and eat something or smoke a cigarette and the gloves do no good if you still wipe your nose, eyes or mouth with them)

 

During a question and answer period she admitted that the government would be doing very little to tell people about stocking up and being prepared aside from the web sites and booklets they recommend, like fema, red cross and their own Pandemicflu.gov. (And, I suppose, by newspaper articles warning people that the government isn't going to be there) That information is supposed to filter down from Fed. to state to local to communities to individuals. It will be up to the communities and etc to see that they and their people are prepared.

 

She suggested a months prep at the least, more is better. When I asked her if she herself was prepared she said yes.

 

My DD asked her about the worry of backyard animals and small farmettes and the risk to those animals. She says that most of the people who have already gotten the disease got it from small back yard flocks (?) and that the threat was real even for cats, dogs, and other animals which were outside. She said that back yard poultry operations certainly wouldn't have the crowding and numbers that could spread the virus fast but they were still at risk and so were anyone handling them unless they were not exposed to the wild birds that carry this, as in housed inside. Still those would probably be isolated incidences. The real threat would come from the mutation of human to human infection. In that case, it could easily come from any human you meet.

 

When I told her about our family/friends meeting that we have planned for sometime in the next two weeks, she was encouraging. She suggested that everyone do the same, making their own plans and that we should contact our community leaders to form plans also. She didn't want to cause a panic but they are trying to let people know that this is a very real threat. Everyone needs to take some responisibility for being as prepared as they can be, given their own circumstances. Every person, family, community, and state needs to be prepared. If not,,,

 

A friend of mine was also present. On hearing what little the government had done so far, she summed it up very well with this acronysm. YOYO...You On Your Own!

 

As an aside, I talked with our speaker afterwards for some time. One of the things we talked about was alternative medicines like Elderberry, Echinacea and etc. Her suggestion was that immune enhancers of ANY kind are not reccomended with this particular flu. She had warned in her talk about the people out there who are trying to sell germ killers, special nanomasks, cures and preventatives and etc. She says to beware. There is no proof of effectiveness for most of it.

 

I'm sorry this is so long a post. I wanted to let you know that there IS information filtering out to the public but not enough. I would venture to say that about 75% of those there tonight were learning these things for the first time. I am grateful for Mrs. Survival and the heads up we get from the members. About half or better of the clips Ms. Smith had on the power point presentation were articles and clippings that we've alreayd seen here.

 

I am now in the process of gathering together the materials and handouts I want for our family/frineds meeting with the hopes that those peole will go out and bring the information to others they know. At the top of the information will be the Mrs. S website. (((Darlene))), thanks for bringing this web site to all of us.

 

 

[gardnmom]

Glad she is giving as much information as this. Thank you for filling us in. I think the meeting was very informative.

[chooselife]

interesting that she stated the non-effectiveness of Tamiflu- wonder if she got back to her office to find her funding pulled?

sounds like a good meeting- thanks for sharing

[cartoongirl]

Thank you Mother for sharing this with us. I have heard Tamiflu may not be effective. I think the only sure way of survival in the event of pandemic is to quarentine. So many questions. Why would the gov't want to warn the people, that would only bring chaos and panic and disorder. They can't say we weren't warned.

[Mother]

Actually, Erica, it's just the opposite. The Federal government DOES want to warn us but they want it to come through all the channels and chains for the most part. Some of that is so that any complaints about screw ups will go back the same way. If the Federal Government can say Hey, we told the states to prepare and told them how. And the States can say, Hey, we told the regional governments to prepare, and etc down the line, well, then who are you going to go complain to about no one telling you to be ready....The local government of course. But a lot of it is because they know that if meetings are set up in communities and people who lead the meetings are trained to begin with (through their reccomendations) there will be less panic.

 

The Government can't afford to start a panic and they can't afford to be in the position they were in with Katrina where THEY were getting blamed. So what are they to do. They really can't go OVER the state and local governments 'before' there is a disaster declared. So they are doing the next best thing. Passing the buck along. I guess the best we can do is to not only be prepared ourselves but bug our community about what THEY are doing about it. It is at the community level that we would be dealing with police and etc for quarantine I would think and for help if it is forth coming. The problem is that the wheels turn SO slowly when it comes to politics.

 

 

[cartoongirl]

Sorry Mother, confusing what I said earlier. To quick to post.

 

I do have a full understanding of it all and of course you certainly said it better/clearer than me.

 

[HapyGirl]

Good info. The one issue I would quibble with her about is the masks. The "masks" they wore in 1918 were just plain muslin and now we have masks that filter VIRUSES which are much smaller. It is true you can't touch your face, and would have to strip off your clothing and gloves and wash up before removing your mask but something is better than nothing!!

[Mother]

I don't believe she was saying NOT to use the masks. I believe she was trying to point out that they needed to be used correctly. She was also saying that we should not be taken in by every claim we see out there.

 

I think that's wise as there is so much conflicting information out there on this flu. So much still unknown. At least we have one person, who presumably is in the know, who is willing to take a stand by telling us that this is a very real threat and we should be prepared for it.

 

 

[cartoongirl]

Yes, used correctly. Seems we will have to know how to do alot of things correctly in order to survive this. It is really overwhelming...looks like I have to give alot of thought and attention when it comes to my toddler playing outdoors. I sure will not have any bird feeders at my house.

[worthy]

You said you asked her is she prepared and she said yes - I would be very interested for how long a period she is prepped for.

[Mother]

I believe she said for about a month but was doing more and that they lived on a farm where they could hunt and etc. She seemed to have thought it through. I DID give her Mrs. S website though.

[Cat]

Bumping this to the top...

 

(BTW, it was started by Mother, not raeba.)

 

 

Today's news from Kuwait says that Bangladeshi workers caught Bird Flu while culling flocks. They were supposedly wearing full coverings. Same with the doctor in Indonesia who was treating a dying boy.

 

 

It appears more and more, that this virus can slip through protecting coverings. Would any mask be good enough??

 

 

 

 

[Mother]

Thanks for bumping this Cat. Being able to read about it written right after the fact is SO much better than my memory of it. I can see a couple of spots where my memory failed me. Geesh! must be getting old...

 

I agree with you on the masks, it is beginning to look like she's more correct than we had originally thought or perhaps we've just been grasping at straws to try to stave off this infection if it comes. Truthfully, I believe that the masks are better than nothing and at least it's attempting to protect ourselves. And don't belittle washing your hands. Long and often! It scares me to think of the number of times I've seen a cashier take out a tissue, blow their nose, stick the tissue back in their pocket and continue to handle my groceries.

 

Perhaps trying to avoid contact might be best. In other words, isolating ourselves. The question remains what is the trigger that causes us to go into isolation?

 

Stangely enough, this was a year ago and I've heard nothing more about her since. Since then I know they were awarded the government contract to be the testing site for AF in the US. I can also tell you that the mayor that attended that meeting has since seen to it that they have at least started getting a plan together. And that Iowa seems to have more info out there than some states. But I don't believe the small Illinois town near us has even HEARD of the Avian Flu Pandemic!!!

 

We may well all BE on our own.

 

(((( ))))