Flu season is just around the corner once again. But this time,
it may be coming disguised as a serial killer.
There is deep concern that a new killer flu, nicknamed "Bird
Flu," may mix with ordinary flu and kill millions of people.
This is how Robert Webster of St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital in Memphis characterizes this killer flu -- and take
note that Dr. Webster has been studying influenza for the past
40 years:
"This virus right from scratch is probably the worst influenza
virus, in terms of being highly pathogenic, that I've ever seen
or worked with."
Public health experts, including those at the World Health
Organization, fear a catastrophe.
In preparation, the United States has ordered 2.3 million doses
of an antiviral called "Tamiflu." 2.3 million for a country of
300 million. However, the U.S. has decided to place all of its
chips on an experimental vaccine, a vaccine that is based on an
early seed of bird flu, which most experts agree has already
mutated into something quite different, and that means when bird
flu gets here, it may not respond to any vaccine.
The most astonishing fact about this new bird flu virus is how
much science doesn't know about it. The mystery remains of how
people get infected. Is it by breathing the air near feces? By
eating duck meat? By touching? Nobody really knows.
Meanwhile, health authorities continue to slaughter infected
fowl, experiment with genetic variations, and run computer
simulations on panic control. It's clear that hospitals and
first responders will be completely overwhelmed, as will
mortuaries.
If you aren't afraid at this point, then take a moment to read
the cover essay of the October 2005 issue of National
Geographic. Study those photos. Analyze those tables and charts.
Then ask yourself, what are the odds that a killer virus will
hit my home town, my family this flu season? Right now, WHO says
the odds are 10% the killer will pick you.
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