Bird Flu

I'm an avid listener of Dr. Dean Edell (on radio). I've been listening for years. He's a no-nonsense, fact-based doctor who helps me keep up with the happenings in medicine. I found this

The U.S. Department of Health and Services said Wednesday it has contracted with drugmaker MedImmune Inc to develop a series of nasal spray vaccines against bird flu.

Scientists have long warned of a possible human pandemic if the bird flu virus mutates and becomes more easily passed between people. So far, the H5N1 strain of the virus has led to the deaths of more than 50 people in Southeast Asia and the slaughter of millions of birds.

Deano is not impressed by panicy situations and is certainly no chickenlittle (pun intended). But he sounded scared today on the radio about this bird flu thing. Currently the bird flu can only be caught by human exposure to an infected bird. Nonetheless, there have been 50 deaths meaning it's a nasty flu. His take was that if it mutates to be able to pass from human to human, we're all in trouble. Or, to quote him, "it'll make New Orleans look like a flooded bathtub".

When he's nervous, I'm nervous.

BTW, the U.S. has 2 million doses on hand for vaccination. Yep. Only 2 million........

Sheesh. And Bush is running the store? Maybe it's his new GOP dominance strategy...kill the opposition.