Why are Europeans being daft and irrational about bird flu?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What? A 100 people have died worldwide from birdflu. Mainly in Asia. 100 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chill out Europe.

Good point rch99!

That's drop-in-bucket

Yeah, that explains the excellent disaster response around here. Many were ringing alarm bells when that hurricance approached. Freaken morons panicking like that. We're only talking 1000 some odd folks that fell victim to that one. So what? A drop in the bucket, eh?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Reinhard, you remember the "swine-flu" scare about 30 years ago? The vaccine for it actually caused more deaths (all due to Guilain-Barré syndrome--which also left permanent damage on others) than it would have prevented.

It looks like that piece of history may be repeated with the bird flu.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Reinhard, you remember the "swine-flu" scare about 30 years ago? The vaccine for it actually caused more deaths (all due to Guilain-Barré syndrome--which also left permanent damage on others) than it would have prevented.

It looks like that piece of history may be repeated with the bird flu.

I don't think that that is what's going on in Europe.

People there just try to get ahead of the game rather being caught with their pants down and their heads up their behinds as has been the case in many a disaster elsewhere.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What? A 100 people have died worldwide from birdflu. Mainly in Asia. 100 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chill out Europe.

True. Rather similar to the big furore over exports of British beef during the BSE crisis. And I'd guess fewer people died from variant CJD than from bird flu.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Fewer people died from eating beef infected by BSE than did obesity-related illness from eating too many burgers, thats for sure.

I returned to the UK from a business trip to Hong Kong just after the outbreak of SARS (when you could then buy there, I kid you not, a hello kitty surgical face mask for going out in public) and I was forbidden to go into work for 2 weeks. It was great.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

What? A 100 people have died worldwide from birdflu. Mainly in Asia. 100 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chill out Europe.

Good point rch99!

That's drop-in-bucket

Yeah, that explains the excellent disaster response around here. Many were ringing alarm bells when that hurricance approached. Freaken morons panicking like that. We're only talking 1000 some odd folks that fell victim to that one. So what? A drop in the bucket, eh?

If it can transfer rapidly between humans that is where the trouble will start, Everythings lip service unlit that happens.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What? A 100 people have died worldwide from birdflu. Mainly in Asia. 100 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chill out Europe.

Good point rch99!

That's drop-in-bucket

Yeah, that explains the excellent disaster response around here. Many were ringing alarm bells when that hurricane approached. Freaken morons panicking like that. We're only talking 1000 some odd folks that fell victim to that one. So what? A drop in the bucket, eh?

If it can transfer rapidly between humans that is where the trouble will start, Everythings lip service unlit that happens.

True. But if everyone just sit there twiddling thumbs until that day, then I guess we'd be in pretty deep #######. Much like the results of the massive thumb twiddling until long after the levees actually broke.

[Reba 2]

I had forgotten all about SARS. I remember a colleague went to Toronto around then and when she came back, everyone in the office avoided her for a while

I lived in Toronto at the time, and was called to fly to Chicago at the last minute. I cought a cold on the plane and woke up the next morning with cough and runny nose. Everyone in the Chicago office was afraid that I was going to give them SARS. Until I pointed out that SARS symptoms didn't include the runny nose

That was a complete fiasco that was. Even on the news in the rest of Canada, they just kept showing people going in and out of hospitals wearing the surgical masks. What they didn't show was that anywhere outside of hospitals, life was going on as usual.

Gotta love the media