»

[daveofficer]

are you worried? should we be worried? bbc news was in a gp's today asking if the public had been showing concern and i couldn't help thinking that they wouldn't be showing any concern if the media hadn't been going on and on and on about bird flu and throwing out figures like 50, 000 people will die when it arrives. obviously i'm not saying the media shouldn't include it in the news to some extent but it's boardering on scare tactics. it's not even here yet.

what do you lot think?

[PrincessHolly]

I'm not majorly worried about it but I think it is a concern. Yeah the media are going on about it a lot at the moment, but if it just arrived and nobody had been warned everyone would suddenly be all "Why weren't we warned?" and what not.

Right now, I'm more worried about being beaten to death in the street than I am about bird flu. And I get a regular flu jab anyway so I should be ok.

[Paulscoconutass]

Down to the media again, the same way that terrorism appears on the front page almost every day. Some reports last week were saying that it could kill 2 Billion people; i) that's bullshit, ii) will never happen iii) sensational media it's just stirring the pot.

This form has been around since 2003 and has only claimed little over 100 lives so far. They say it could mutate into human form, but the (spanish) bird flu in the early 1900's killed 50 Million and swept accross the globe in record time; that didn't even mutate from the bird version. I'd honestly forget about it for now.

[Uncle Mog]

I'm not worried at all by it. Its just more sensationalising of news, the same way they do with terrorism as you've said. I was reading yesterday that there's only a tiny chance of it being passed on to humans and the only people who should be worried are poultry farmers

Originally Posted by PrincessHolly

And I get a regular flu jab anyway so I should be ok.

Um, no you won't - that's the problem, the virus needs to mutate to a form which affects humans so an effective vaccine can be produced.

[SteveCrisis]

I think it's getting blown out of proportion just like the SARS 'epidemic' 18 months - 2 years ago. they're definitely scaremongering. Fucking Nanny State yet again.

[PrincessHolly]

Yes I'm aware of that, and I know that as of yet, nobody is receiving innoculations for bird flu but people with a regular flu jab will be immunised in ways that people without aren't, and will hold some immunity against certain strains of the virus.

[Hogisbald]

I would only start to worry if a) it had mutated b) The mutated version was found to be widely spread throughout the UK.

However, its been quite a while since there has been a major epidemic and if history is something to go by, we are due something some kind of serious disease.

[PrincessHolly]

Originally Posted by SteveCrisis

I think it's getting blown out of proportion just like the SARS 'epidemic' 18 months - 2 years ago. they're definitely scaremongering. Fucking Nanny State yet again.

Oh man! I'd forgotten all about SARS! Those were the good old days when everytime someone coughed they has SARS. Duh.

[daveofficer]

Originally Posted by Hog

I would only start to worry if a) it had mutated b) The mutated version was found to be widely spread throughout the UK.

However, its been quite a while since there has been a major epidemic and if history is something to go by, we are due something some kind of serious disease.

yea but history was a lot dirtier.