Health

H5N1 : Bird Flu Outbreak In Turkey

January 8, 2006 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza has been detected in humans. Many feel the hype surrounding the potential bird flu pandemic is just that, ‘hype’. However, the recent spread of the virus has now been found as far reaching as the Ukraine, and Turkey. The virus has been mainly confined to Asian countries but it is now being detected in other continents.

With the spread of globalization, and a global economy, comes also the threat of global health pandemics, such as Influenza, SARS, and AIDS. We can’t just take their cheap labor and not the rest of what wide ranging cultures have to offer. As we try and industrialize the world we also open humans to the threat of a global health pandemic. This is what a lot of archeologist base there argument against globalization on, they feel we infect native cultures with terminal social issues and they infect us with localized health issues. Both issues usually have a tragic effect on the trading cultures lives.

People are dying from this H5N1 virus, make no mistake. If you read the news on the virus, death is being reported with more and more frequency. There are also more reports discussing human infections. You can try and run and hide from this potential threat but that will not help very much. The last time the world faced a threat like this in the early 1900’s, around 61 million people died. With the world a much more global place now, the threat and spread of a lethal virus could be ten times worse.

An influenza outbreak occurred in 1918, many at that time said the same things I hear now, ‘this is just hype’, and ‘it will not get to us’. The virus spread slowly because there was not as much mass transit then as there is now. However, with daily transcontinental flights, bullet trains, commuter flights, and bus traveling, the spread of such a virus would occur much more rapidly.

Many think the Tamiflu vaccine is our best defense, but there have been recent deaths of humans who have been treated with this vaccine, health professionals are still trying to figure out why the humans perished. Meanwhile, we are left to try and understand what we are to do. Tamiflu is the last and only defense we currently rely on, if this does not work, what will we do to protect ourselves?

Countries are still scrambling trying to come up with defenses and potential disaster plans, but most officials advise their country is still unprepared to deal with an outbreak if it occurs. While America sends aid all over the world, it has done very little to prepare itself for an outbreak if it does occur. The main plan America currently has in place is basically a marshal law policy.

Any city, or region, suspected of having a large infected population will be militarily quarantined. The current American plan is to try and marginalize the spread of the outbreak and hope to eliminate or reduce the threat at that point. Many feel this plan is both inhumane and theoretically impossible. However, this is currently the only plan we have in place.

With all of the resources we have here in America, why doesn’t the government provide grants to domestic science and health labs and try to encourage more work on this particular virus. It could create high tech jobs, like the President advises he wants, it could also benefit all of humanity, which is the mantra behind a lot of what Bush does in the world.
Five More Human Cases of Bird Flu in Turkey

Related Posts