Are you afraid of H5N1?
106602
I am afraid that the virus that causes bird flu will mutate and become airborne. That would be like the black plague. However, as of now, there is no need to panic. Even when the disease enters the US, for as long as there is no human to human transfer, just fowl to human, there is no need to panic. Just like any virus, the disease is self-limiting. What we have to do to prevent it is to boost our immune system and keep our bodies healthy
349972
Negative. They worry that they won't be able to make large quantities of bird flu vaccine because the vaccine is made in chicken eggs, and the flu kills the embryos.
1165530
I guess the big deal is if you read the history books about the 1918 virus its really scary.  There were 1.5 million Americans killed in that influenza with another 10 million or so dead around the world.  It is tagged the N1H1 virus and this is an offshoot of it.  As virus are always mutating it possible that this one could too and become more of a killer.   \n\nGo to a bookstore or Amazon and look for books on the big influenze of 1918.  References to it were nearly written out of our history.  Now that's amazing!!
633330
Many things: Bees (any kind), fire (since I was in a house fire) spiders (any kind) got bit by one 1 time, to fly in an airplane, afraid to drive a car, afraid to go in water past my waist (I almost drowned when I was 5) afraid to speak in front of a lot of people {getting better at that) afraid to be in a crowd of people I don't know. As you can see I am afraid of many things. Probably more but that is all I can think of for right now. What are you afraid of?
781915
Not yet.\n\n\nI carry sanitizing wipes with me to use when I use a buggy in a store and use one again after leaving. You touch a lot of things when you shop.\n\nI wash my hands often and try to stay away from crowds of people.\n\nNot a fetish at all.\n\nMy mother was diagnosed three years ago with a disease of her blood called TTP. You can look it up just by typing in TTP. Doctors said chances were she caught it by dirty buggies in stores. Learned my lesson then. \n\nIt is not just the flu, it is any disease that is transmitted by others touching things. \n\nYou never know what people around you have or have had.
38619
The bird flu is of the type H5N1.  This refers to the protein structure of the virus.  The virus can currently pass from bird to bird and from bird to human.  Bird to human spread is difficult.  Close contact with infected birds is needed, which is why it has been mainly poultry workers who have been infected.\n\nThere is a very high mortality rate in humans who contract H5N1.  However once the virus has infected a human it is unable to spread human to human and is therefore contained.  The worry is that the virus is able to mutate to allow human to human spread.  Humans have no natural immunity to H5N1 so if the virus does mutate there would be a Pandemic.\n\nAuthorities are  now trying to contain the virus to prevent the spread in bird  populations.  If they are successful the virus will be unable  to mutate and unnable to jump  the species barrier.\n\nGood web resources are the WHO and CDC websites and also the UK's Health Protection Agency.
239743
I do not know all the organs or all the systems that this virus affects (infects), but speaking as a human, it is the closest I have ever come to praying for death.  I can say emphatically, you do not want the flu.
170258
it scares me tremendously, because I already have an immune disorder!  However, I'm not going to let it controll me.  I'm still going to eat my chicken and turkey as they are a great source of nutrition and I love them!  I look at it as this, if I'm going to die I'm going to die eating what I like, if I stop doing things that could potentially give me something that could kill me then I'd die of starvation and lack of oxygen.  There is not enough time in the day to worry about things that could happen some day vs what is happening now.  Live for the moment as if the momemt may be your last!
575255
im not scared... just htink bullemic people do it at least 2 times a day... it won't kill you\n\ndont worry the bad taste goes away just take a mint\n\ntheres really no big its just your body getting rid of a virus... so what are you scared of?
440993
I live in the USA and I think I have bird flu!!!!!\n\nI have a fever, chills, and an incredible urge to crap on someone's windshield.
907060
I'm not germ-phobic; I think any vestiges of such a fear disappeared when I had a child.  Kids are incredibly tough, and as long as a place is reasonably clean, they're going to be fine.  I HAVE heard the idea that children are becoming more allergic to things like molds because their parents simply won't allow them to play outside in the dirt as much!  I do think that hand-washing is important, especially during flu season, and certainly when cooking, or dealing with an infant.  I believe it's like most things - excess in ANYTHING can be harmful, but all the things like hand sanitizers certainly have their place, especially in situations where there's no water available (car trip and dirty restrooms, for instance - yuck!)
258778
Most of our info is very speculative as of now, as when it comes to future mutations of the bird flue, all we have are our fears. Really, we're worried about a recurrance of the Spanish Flue, which killed millions in the early twentieth century. As of now however, there has been only one case of bird flue transmitted between people, the rest has been from bird to poultry worker (total infected is around 100 people I believe). The big deal is, from the infected we've seen, it has a 50% mortality rate, and this is before it's even fully evolved to attack humans.\n\nHowever, a good deal of this is speculation, as it is easily possible that many more have been infected and fealt no adverse effects, or nothing more than a cold. All the cases we now know about were severe enough to warrant hospitalization, but what if there are many more that never had to go to the hospital, and so we never learned about them?\n\nBut, with 2 mutations left to go to be fully suited to attack humans, the avian flue (H1N1) it can't be long until we know for sure.\n\nTo prevent this, people are attempting to quarentine and kill ay infected birds nd poultry, but as you can imagine, this is easier said than done. We're also stocking up on Tamiflu, which some say is our best shot at an antiviral for fighting this thing.\n\nThe Spanish Flu ended when it burned itself out. It moved so quickly that it killed off the more suceptable humans, and the tougher ones became immune. It had nowhere left to go, and died off. If the avian flu is anything like it, the same will happen, though our use of antivirals may hamper this.\n\nThese pandemics are a natural part of population control and evolution. Who can say what we do to our species when we do all we can to fight it, and keep it from having an impact upon us?
636068
The bird flu is nothing to panic about right now if you are a smart consumer. The bird flu is still in asia and has not been rapidly spreading in the USA. You will not catch the bird flu is you properly handle and cook all poultry. The only way you can get it is if you go over to asia and handle an infected bird. Other wise you are pretty safe safe! Scientists are working on a vaccine right now so hopfully the bird flu epedimic panic will soon fade away!
242424
A lot of people ARE worried about the threat of bird flu, because of the media coverage of it.\nIn fact it is more likely that there will NOT be a pandemic. As far as the chance of a bird flu pandemic goes, the most commonly agreed upon figure by experts is 10%. So if you interpreted the documentary you saw correctly, then the documentary is wrong. Of the known cases of humans who have been infected with avian flu, a little over half have died. Most of the infected people have been children, who are probably more susceptible to it. You can only be infected by bird flu through close contact with infected birds, or the excretions of infected birds. Proper cooking of meat and eggs destroys the virus.\n\nA vaccine is under development.\n\nIf you want to find out more information about bird flu, and how it is being dealt with on an international level, I suggest you look at the World Health Organisation's website:\n\nhttp://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/\n\nCheerio.
451441
Tough Question - My glib answer is that it won't happen because I am taking precautions for an outbreak. Evey time I take precautions for a disaster nothing happens;) \n\nWhy I am worried is because one case of human to human transmission has happened in Thailand. Also the flu has a week incubation period and during that time it can be spread.   \n\nSpanish flu killed between 50 & 100 million in 1918 and started off as an avian virus. Experts say that the Spanish flu virus had 12 mutations which made it adapt from just infecting birds to infecting pigs and humans.  The mass fowl cullings around the world seem to be preventing any adapted viruses from starting a human pandemic. However the virus has reached countries that don't have the infrastructure, because of bad government, war and poverty, to identify and contain H5N1 in birds. This means that if the adaption happens it could get a foothold in the human population and then start spreading. \n\nThe next point is what do you mean by "really become  contagious?" \n\nMost of the models of the spread of a pandemic are based on past infections. Most predictions are scientifically valid but they depend on a number of factors that can not be controlled. If avian flu mutates to human to human it may become less lethal and it may not be as contagious as it is now. The only way that the statistics will be proved depends on what the H5N1 virus does next.\n\nThe range of the numbers show just how difficult it is to get a clear idea of what may happen. Here are some numbers I crunched based on assumptions and a worldwide population of 6 billion. Note fatalities are based on no medical treatment. \n\n1.) Bird flu stays in birds and can only be transmitted through eating uncooked chicken, exposure to dead birds and drinking or eating things that have been infected.\n% of world population that gets sick 0.000040%\nNo. Sick 2,400\n% fatalities 63.64%\nNo. fatalities 1,527\n\n2.) Bird flu mutates and is really weakened in the mutation \n% of world population that gets sick 25%\nNo. Sick 1,500,000,000\n% fatalities 0.50% (half a percent)\nNo. fatalities 7,500,000\n\n3.) Bird flu mutates and is as virulent as the spanish flu of 1918 (WHO figures) \n% of world population that gets sick 50%\nNo. Sick 3,000,000,000\n% fatalities 5%\nNo. fatalities 150,000,000\n\nThese models become scarier and scarier the worse the plagues and disasters used as a base. All they really say is that if there is a pandemic people, without medical help, will die. They don't say that it will happen. (If you want to really scare yourself or someone else do the maths on bubonic plague 80% infected and 80% fatalities).  \n\nSo overall I'll say there is a chance of this avian fly being the next pandemic. The chance is not so terrifyingly likely that I am going to sell up and move to a defendable mountaintop and start shooting at strangers. However the chance is big enough that I have spent about $100 dollars on Tamiflu and food - just in case. \n\nThe only people who have told me with a 100% certainty that the pandemic is going to happen and everyone will die are people who are trying to sell me stuff to survive the coming pandemic. I think they are pretty biased.
225340
Yes i am worried. people are GOING to die, if we don't take the proper precautions, i am going to Austria in may 2006, where the bird flu is, and i am really freaked out. Can anyone help me with this.
658904
H5N1 is not currently a threat, but the possibility of becoming a threat is very real.  If bird flu were to mutate to a form transmissable from human to human, this could be a potential disaster--similar to the influenza pandemic of 1918 that killed more people than WWI.  The 1918 flu traveled around the world and 20-40 million people died.  It was so bad, it shortened the average life expectancy by 10 years.\n\nRecent DNA studies have shown that this 1918 flu was a bird flu that mutated to infect humans.  It began in people who were in contact with poultry.  This is the reason for all the concern about H5N1--there is the potential for it to happen all over again.  It hasn't happened yet, but if we don't come up with some kind of vaccine, it may be only a matter of time.