I was doing a search the other day here on wordpress for bird flu. I was amazed at the number of times bird flu was mentioned: over 7,000 times, much of it outdated. A very small number were actually bird flu blogs.
I ran across this blog:
http://piedtype.wordpress.com/2006/04/28/bird-flu-shame-on-abc/
If you have just read it, you see why I’m about to have a little rant.
First of all, out of due respect to the blogger, they are entitled to their opinion, and that is their opinion.
Media creating fear?
Keep in mind that post was made April 28, 06. At that time, the news media was showing the situation with the poultry. Human infections and deaths were rare at that time. This truely was a bird problem.
So the media shows the public this very bad situation, and the now infamous comment “scientists fear H5N1 could mutate and go pandemic,” was splashed in the headlines. I remember at that time, what the media was showing, was very little on the BF situation. While I wasn’t concerned about a bird disease,(at the time I knew nothing about H5N1), that comment was in everything I read or watched in the media. Then, there was no more reporting on bird flu. It had totally dried up. I did listen to a radio talk show who’s guest was an expert and doctors, who assured the public that society was in no way in any danger from “bird flu.” The way they said that was almost in a mocking way as if they wondered why they agreed to do this interview. Lots of people and media got on the “there’s nothing to worry about folks. Move along,” bandwagon. We were being told with very little research and information at the time, that we were in no danger. I wonder if they were also talking about the people of Indonesia as well.
So this blogger took offense:”The news media have hyped the threat of an avian flu pandemic in the U.S. beyond any resemblance to scientific reality.”
First of all, at that time, scientific news in the media was almost non existant(not the internet mind you. The regular news medias.) And when something was mentioned about BF, the threat risk was always downplayed. I found nothing in the regular news media that seriously questioned H5N1 going pandemic. So after time, I forgot about bird flu. It was pretty much yesterday’s news.
One day, I was doing some research on somthing, and bird flu popped into my head. I had wondered what had become of the situation. so I googled bird flu and was totally amazed at the info out there. “So that’s where they’ve been hiding the news and talk.” I researched, read the good news and the bad news. Read everybody’s opinions, “proof” that supported a pandemic or no pandemic from H5N1. “These people say it can go pandemic, these people say it can’t.” So I start reading about flu viruses, namely H5N1. I didn’t know about the 1918 pandemic and after reading that, it pretty much drew me in to study and investigate this further.
Another issue with this blogger:”They have been and are creating anxiety and fear in Americans by repeatedly presenting this “news” to gullible, uncritical viewers.” I will admit that what I found was overwhelming. That got worse when I found and joined Fluwiki(old forum) that fall of ‘06. We are so use to our soft, pampered way of like, that anything “bad” that could potientally threathen our pamered butts, throws us in a state of de-nil-al!
Another issue this blogger had:”Now, as if this weren’t bad enough, ABC plans to air a made-for-tv disaster movie — “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America” — during the May ratings sweeps. Shades of Orson Welles! Shame on ABC. This is fear-mongering of the worst kind and totally irresponsible. Pander to panic and hope to profit via ratings and advertising income.”
See, our pampered butts de-ny that anything could bear down on us, and turn our lives upside down. However, that statement has a double edge to it: fear can motivate people to take positive action as I have witnessed, and it can motivate people to take negative action, as with the latest “rice shortage” ordeal. Basically, the unprepared, uneducated (lack of info), will cause people to panic, big time.
another issue with this blogger:”Those concerned about bird flu should get their facts directly from the Centers for Disease Control, and The World Health Organization. The facts are that since January 2004, when bird flu first appeared, there have been just 113 laboratory-confirmed bird flu deaths reported to WHO.” As if you read anything else, your being lied too. Sorry, use those two organsations in addition to the other research you find. But this blogger was under the same inpression I was at that time:WHO and CDC were it. They were the best. Sadly, over time, I realized they were not.
This blogger wrapps it up by saying:”
“Don’t be duped. If you are concerned about bird flu, or any other news story, look behind the headlines. Get the facts from some reliable sources. Make sure your information is correct. Don’t trust the media to do it for you.”
Well, there again a double edge. I found back then that reliable sources were few. It was maddening to sort through all the stuff on the internet, and it was hard to figure out just what to believe and think. There will always be de-bunkers, and diehards who believe it to be true, but even the de-bunkers and diehards can be wrong. What got me going on this blogger’s post, is that they were just as un-informed as the rest of the people who read that post. This blogger showed they had not even attempted to dig deep in the huge pot of info, sort through it, and base an informed opinion on H5N1. And that takes time. Lots of time. H5N1 can’t be assed in a month or two. It’s something you have to say with, and somewhere along the way you can make a better informed opinion as to H5N1. But to state in a few sentences that H5N1 is being hyped and fear mongers are out to get you, is very irresponsible. I encounter that alot. People who summed up the H5N1 situation in a few sentences and they wanted to be right. There is no right or wrong when dealing with viruses. They have a mind all their own, and we are at their mercy. In writing a few sentences that puts us in control of the virues and mandate our wishes and will, is petty, and typically human. We do not and can not control viruses.
Alot has happened since that bloggers April 06 post. H5N1 has gotten meaner and taken more people. It’s turned more to H2N than 2 years ago, and the death toll is rising. There is a very serious problem in China and Indonesia, and Egypt, that’s gotten worse since 06. And that makes my point: watching H5N1 is an ongoing process. You either stay with it or you don’t. There is no way we can know that H5N1 will cause the next pandemic.
It’s easy to say the media is fear mongering people with bird flu. But we could say that about alot of stuff the media reports. Some people will use information as a positive tool and some won’t. We can’t change that. Even with a pandemic bearing down on us and we see it, we’re still going to have that same situation. So let’s stop focusing on “the media and fear mongering” and let’s start to educate ourself to the best of our knowedge. Have an open mind, because no one is right and no one is wrong. Let’s stop focusing on who’s right and who’s wrong. That isn’t our problem with H5N1. Our problem is coming up with an effective vaccine that can help keep this under control, educating people about H5N1, escpecially in poorer countries. Remember, what goes on over there, ultimately ends up in our back yard! One way or another!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: bird flu, blogs, cottontop, egypt, flu boards, H5N1, Indonesia, news media, pandemicChina
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I havn’t looked into bird flu since I wrote that post. However, I’m curious to know what sources you think are more authoritative than the WHO and CDC. You seem to be relying on what the news media say, and that was my point: the news media and the entertainment industry are not authorities on bird flu or any other health issue. The sceintific community is.
P.S. WHO’s latest figures on avian influenza can be found at http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country/cases_table_2008_04_30/en/index.html
Hi and thanks for stopping by.
As I stated, you are entitled to your opinion, and that has to be respected.
My source of info comes from the very places this is happening, namely Indonesia. On a daily basis, others and myself comb through newspapers seeking out news on BF. More and more now, investigations are not finding puolrty anywhere near an infected and deceased person home. This latest news coming from Indo is a family of 10, involving 3 children, two positive and dying. The found no poultry near the home. Suggestions are that they ate infected chickens. I don’t know. We don’t know. The Indo news gives sketchy details thats hard to follow at times, which makes our job harder as news hounds to keep our records on track and accurate.
Just because the death numbers are not high enough for people doesn’t mean this isn’t any reason to pay attention to it.
As I mentioned, alot has changed since your 06 post, and I would like to everyone reading this who has not done so, to do some deep digging into what is going on in Indonesia, and China. And join a community of flubies. That may sound like an odd request of me, but I’m hear to tell you, if you are really interested in knowing what is going on, and what others think of it, joining a flu community. I was leary at first when I finally did, going on two years ago.
To sit here and go into details on why I think differently of WHO and CDC, would take me all night. And it wouldn’ tbe fair to you, for just telling you. Investigate, dig, do the work. If you dig deep enough, you just might come to the same conclusion. There’s much, much more to all of this than meets the eye.
I’m no expert on anything. All I have is my gaining knowledge of the current situation on H5N1. I know there has been more H2H clusters than anyone cares to hear about. I know with each H2H, the virus is one step closer to H2H2H. This lastest cluster at first looked like H2H2H. A Tamiflu blanket was thrown and for the moment, the rest of the family has not shown any symptons. The third child is recovering, from what I understand of the article I translated this morning.
Of course, there’s another topic, Tamiflu.
I would suggest to anyone that desires more details, to go to either here:
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2450
or here:
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2179
or the Fluwiki for daily news, including translated Indonesian articles, here:
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2179
PFI (Pandemic Flu Information) is here:
http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/
Either one is very good. I recommend these two because I have found them to be very good with the information that comes to us.
As I stated, no one is right and no one is wrong. Disagreeing doesn’ t mean I’m wrong, or you right. I just ask that people not sum up H5N1 in a few sentences as if to say this deadly virus can’t cause a pandemic. You don’t know that. No body knows that. Just because somebody says that it can’t happen, doesn’t make it so. We have never maintained that it will go pandemic.
In order to get the facts, your going to have to go where the facts are: Indonesia, China, Egypt.
But I wouldn’t tell those people their being “fear mongered.”
Again, thanks for stopping by.
cottontop
To find out what is really going on related to the bird flu virus (and its mutations) just go to http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com.
This is the largest source of real time news about the H5N1 and related problems on the web.
The site is one of the very oldest of its kind and not only has ALL of the bird flu related news from around the world, but also the thousands of BLOGS focused on the subject.
Ah, there you go! I use birdflubreakingnews myself. Well done myukforums! There is quiet a bit of info out there, and it’s hard for me to keep track of it all. It probably wouldn’t hurt to list someof these places, would it?
Thanks for bring that to my attention, and for stopping by.
cottontop
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How to Prepare Your Business For Bird Flu
Ask any business manager if they’ve heard about Bird Flu and the answer is always an emphatic “Yes!”. Ask them if they have made preparations to mitigate the effects of Bird Flu on their business continuity, and very few are able to produce any viable evidence that they actually have.
The intent seems to be there. The results of a recent international survey of businesses corroborates this. The survey, carried out by Mercer Consulting (www.mercer.com/avianflu), covered 450 organizations across 38 countries and 20 industries, shows that some 17% of businesses world-wide have allocated some kind of budget towards its pandemic influenza readiness activities.
Although still very low, this is a number which has been creeping up for several years now. Even without the budget, most businesses managers are at least trying to get a set of plans together. So the question now is “What’s stopping them?”.
If you sift through the responses it boils down to two main reasons:
1. There’s no real point, it’ll be the end of life as we know it, or
2. I don’t know how to prepare and don’t have funding for a consultant.
The first point is fundamentally flawed. It will not be the end of life as we know it. The strain which breaks into a pandemic will not be the same as the bird-to-human one which is killing over 50% of those it infects. The human-to-human strain is far more likely to be like the 1918 pandemic strain. The 1918 influenza outbreak, considered the worst, killed about 3% of those it infected.
In number terms, losing 3% of staff over 18 months (the expected duration of the pandemic) is probably less of a loss than is the normal business staff attrition rate.
That’s not to say it won’t be devastaing. The staff absenteeism rate will be over 50% for lengthy periods with even healthy staff off work due to fear, home quarantine and caring for others. Within a relatively short period the hype and fear will subside as the public becomes educated and the actual fatality rate of the virus strain becomes clear.
Soon most will want to come out of isolation and try to resume a sense of normality in their lives. Governments would need to loosen controls as resources would not be able to cope for long if sustained at those initial levels. Businesses will be permitted to do their own disinfection and people would become (cautiously) accustomed to living in a pandemic, despite high levels of sickness around them and the regulatory controls which will be in place.
The second point about not knowing how is also answerable. There’s actually a lot businesses can do to prepare. There’s a lot businesses can do in advance so that they are ready and know what to do when the time comes. Here’s a summary of a few of them:
Things that you can do to prepare
Establish your level of risk exposure. Before you know what you need to do you’ll need to do some sort of Bird Flu risk assessment. There are four areas you need to focus on, processes, people, suppliers and utilities. You should also consider doing a business impact analysis, it’ll give you an idea on your cost/benefit to justify the funding you may need.
Choose your ‘Flu Manager’. Every company needs an Influenza Manager(s) to take the lead in the company’s planning for the pandemic, and guide the company’s response (in their location) once the pandemic starts. This specialist business continuity manager role needs to be hands on.
Identify your protective equipment needs. When people are panic buying there will be supply shortages of face masks, hand disinfectants and other cleaning supplies/equipment that you’ll need for workplace disinfection, and to maintain a sterile office environment with, so you need to do your stockpiling now. Put it all in storage and forget about it. You’ll be glad you did!
Get your sickness response plans mapped out. Locate a room which can be used as a quarantine room and plan how you will manage illness at work. Establish a proper written set of sickness at work response procedures for proper workforce management and the quick return to work.
Company alert status. You’ll need to align your own company pandemic response phases such as ‘yellow’, ‘orange’ and ‘red’ with those of your local government or the WHO to set into motion each of the activation phases in your response plan. For example the special office access control arrangements for when the yellow, orange and red alert phases are initiated.
Consider international travel policy. What special travel policy guidelines will you have for staff who are already in an infected area when the pandemic breaks out? Will you let you staff travel to an infected area during the yellow, orange and red alert phases and what additional information do you need to know on the travel application form?
Governments and health agencies. Learn what your local public health sector actions will be and what regulatory compliance requirements your government may require of you terms of illness record keeping, and contact tracking of where sick staff have been.
Educate management and staff. Ensure to carry out proper staff training so they are familiar with your company response procedures, and run some practice drills so they can see for themselves the plans in action. Ensure to give them access to plenty of Bird Flu information, FAQs and videos, so they can learn what Bird Flu symptoms are, its characteristics and the differences between flu and the common cold.
Promoting awareness. It is vital during the heightened alert phases to use as many ways as possible to promote staff awareness. Put up awareness posters around the office to remind staff of the importance of practicing good personal hygiene and implement special social distancing policies.
Carry on communicating. Good communications management will be critical to your ongoing operations and customer confidence. Make sure you can also get messages out to your staff efficiently using some sort of cascading communications tree, so that staff can get the ‘all clear’ and get back to their workstations quickly.
Pre-prepare forms. Pre-prepare all the lists and forms you’ll need and ready a preparedness report with an estimated project timeline. This will help you keep your implementation on track and within budget.
Nigel Thomas, a 20+ year business continuity planning professional, is Managing Director of Continuity Business Solutions Limited, author of the hugely successful “Bird Flu D-I-Y eManual for Business Preparedness and Survival” (with over 10,000 copies sold!) and is also sponsor of Bird Flu Manual Online the web’s best reference and resource mine designed to help businesses and homes prepare for a pandemic outbreak of Bird Flu.