. . . Is our President payin’ attention or is he too occupied with his handicap?

JANET: EVENTS DO NOT WARRANT TESTING OF PLANE PASSENGERS FROM MEXICO…
‘NO EVIDENCE’ OF BIO-TERROR…
CALDERON TELLS MEXICANS TO STAY CALM, COOPERATE WITH AUTHORITIES…
CDC RECOMMENDS PLANNING FOR SCHOOL CLOSURES…
Positive: NYC students…
WHO: Swine flu could mutate to ‘more dangerous’ strain…
Flu fears prompt quarantine plans…

Mexico flu scare empties streets, churches, bars…
CLOSE TO 1,400 SUSPECTED CASES…
Russia Suspends Imports of Meat From Mexico, Some U.S. States…
New swine flu likely widespread…
Asia on alert…
10 New Zealand students in scare…
Mideast First: Israeli man hospitalized on suspicions…
6 CASES CONFIRMED IN CANADA…
Spain announces 3 suspected cases…

Check those out — it’s about a quarter after 5pm, PST, and those are the top highlights on Drudge at the moment. Anyone who has read Stephen King’s The Stand can’t help but have a little bit o’ hair standing up at the nape of their necks. Still, before everyone goes apeshit paranoid one could worse than read Okie Gabriel Malor’s guide to infectious preparedness over at Ace.

Allahpundit at Hot Air sees terrible potential, at least in less developed parts of the world:

If it’s susceptible to OTC drugs, presumably we’re okay; developing countries, not so much. {…} All we need now is for the virus to migrate to Pakistan, where the country’s already teetering, and we’ll have a true apocalyptic clusterfark to end all clusterfarks.

{…}
How’s it spreading to so many far-flung places? There should be a chain of infection via visitors to or from Mexico, no?

Michelle Malkin wonders if this will finally get someone to pay attention to our border security.

So Okie, what’s up with the pic? Well, earlier today the White House said that the President was going to play golf, but he’d stay in touch with the Swine flue developments. Via his new Super Blackberry no doubt.

Still, at least they aren’t completely out of touch.

The U.S. declared a public health emergency Sunday to deal with the emerging new swine flu, much like the government does to prepare for approaching hurricanes.

Officials reported 20 U.S. cases of swine flu in five states so far, with the latest in Ohio and New York. Unlike in Mexico where the same strain appears to be killing dozens of people, cases in the United State have been mild — and U.S. health authorities can’t yet explain why.

“As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease,” predicted Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re going to see more severe disease in this country.”

At a White House news conference, Besser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to assure Americans that health officials are taking all appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the outbreak.

Damn good thing. As Hugh Hewitt comments:

Thousands of students travel to Mexico on spring break, either to party or to do service projects, so the flu’s rapid criss-crossing of the U.S. is almost guaranteed. Time to open the Tamiflu stcokpile.

Oh, ya betcha!

Even as we all become mired in discussions of the Middle East conflict, hope someone over here is paying attention to this. From Reuters:

Multiple mutations in Indonesian bird flu strain

Multiple mutations have been found in the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed seven family members in Indonesia although scientists are unsure of their significance, a leading science journal said on Thursday.

But researchers believe the findings reinforce the need for bird flu data to be more widely available to improve understanding of the deadly virus.

“The functional significance of the mutations isn’t clear — most of them seem unimportant,” the journal Nature said in a report in the latest issue on Thursday.

An analysis of virus samples from six of the eight members of the family showed 32 mutations accumulated as it spread, according to the confidential research obtained by Nature.
(…)
“One of the mutations confers resistance to the antiviral drug amantadine, a fact not mentioned in the WHO statement,” the journal said.
(…)
The mutations found in the virus from the Indonesian cluster were not significant enough for the virus to spread beyond the family.

Virologists contacted by Nature said part of the reason the significance of the mutations is unclear is because withholding the information has hampered the study of the virus.

Nasty little things, viruses. For one as lethal as H5N1 to mutate and become resistant to a major anti-viral drug is more than worrisome, but perhaps this is why that is so:

Recently, amantadine is reported to have been used in China poultry farming in an effort to protect the birds against avian flu. In western countries and according to international livestock regulations, amantadine is approved only for use in humans. Chickens in China have received an estimated 2.6 billion doses of amantadine.

The report goes on to say that in the 2005/2006 flu season, the CDC released a report that Amantadine resistance to the most prevalent human flus at the time was at 92%. Guess we can scratch one anti-viral!

Still, the Indonesian experience “reinforce[s] the need for bird flu data to be more widely available to improve understanding of the deadly virus”, that’s a fact. China is one of the big blockers of avian flu samples and data. That needs to end, soon . . . (db)

Technorati Tags: H5N1, Avian Flu, Avian Flu Virus Mutation, Indonesia, China

Doesn’t sound good! From Bloomberg Asia:

Seven Indonesian Bird Flu Cases Linked to Patients (Update1)

May 23 (Bloomberg) — All seven people infected with bird flu in a cluster of Indonesian cases can be linked to other patients, according to disease trackers investigating possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus.

A team of international experts has been unable to find animals that might have infected the people, the World Health Organization said in a statement today. In one case, a 10-year- old boy who caught the virus from his aunt may have passed it to his father, the first time officials have seen evidence of a three-person chain of infection, an agency spokeswoman said. Six of the seven people have died.

Almost all of the 218 cases of H5N1 infections confirmed by the WHO since late 2003 can be traced to direct contact with sick or dead birds. Strong evidence of human-to-human transmission may prompt the global health agency to convene a panel of experts and consider raising the pandemic alert level, said Maria Cheng, an agency spokeswoman.

“Considering the evidence and the size of the cluster, it’s a possibility,” Cheng said in a telephone interview. “It depends on what we’re dealing with in Indonesia. It’s an evolving situation.”

The caveat is that they haven’t identified a mutation of the virus that would show it had gained any DNA from pigs, which could make it more easily transmissible to people, and person-to-person. Direct, long-period contact with the victims seems to be the factor in these cases. Constant vigilance is the watchword . . . (db)

Technorati Tags: H5N1, Avian Flu, Indonesia, Human to Human Transmission, WHO

Part One — From the Mirror UK:

A WOMAN who arrived in London on a flight from Africa yesterday is reported to have died from the deadly and contagious ebola virus.

Panic has spread among cabin crew and hospital staff after the death of the 38-year-old Briton.

The unnamed woman is understood to work at an embassy in the African kingdom of Lesotho.

Before boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow she visited a doctor complaining of flu-like symptoms.

She was allowed to fly, but during Flight VS602 to the UK she suffered a violent fit which left her unconscious.

Cabin crew and passengers rushed to her aid but towards the end of the flight she began to vomiting.

When the Airbus A340-600, carrying 267 passengers and crew, touchdown at Heathrow she was rushed to nearby Hillingdon Hospital, West London.

Her symptoms matched those of the viral haemorraghing fever, ebola. The results of a post mortem are awaited.

Virgin Atlantic cabin crew who came into contact with the woman have been told to monitor their health. One said: “We are now terrified what we may have caught.”

Deadly ebola is often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.

Part Two — from Reuters: Indonesia says no bird flu cover-up, Egyptian dies

Indonesia pledged on Thursday there would be no cover-up if human-to-human transmission of bird flu does occur, after five members of a family were confirmed to have died from the H5N1 avian flu virus.

The case has baffled experts because the source of the virus has not been confirmed and human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out.

But, offering a possible answer, Indonesia’s agriculture minister said pigs had tested positive for bird flu in the same village in North Sumatra.

The family slaughtered animals for a barbecue feast in late April before the outbreak in Kubu Simbelang village where pigs and chickens live near homes and cats and dogs roam freely.

Six of the family have died and one has survived. The sixth family member was buried before tests could be carried out.

“This is the largest cluster of cases, closely related in time and place, reported to date in any country …,” the World Health Organisation said in a statement.

The U.N. agency said exposure to infected poultry or an environment contaminated by their feces was the most plausible source.

“The possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out at present,” the WHO said, but added: “If human-to-human transmission has occurred, it has not been either efficient or sustained.”

Of the two, the first may be a tragedy for many that were aboard that aircraft, and their immediate families. Ebola is almost 100% fatal for the 1st generation of exposure, then gets progressively less lethal for each next-gen of transmission. Little comfort to those of the 2nd & 3rd levels, still in the 70%-90% range. Hopefully not many came in contact with fluids from the doomed victim. This will also cause airlines to think seriously about letting folks that appear ill to fly on their aircraft, especially from certain countries in Africa.

The second looks really bad to me. If the virus is now infecting pigs, it likely won’t be long before a mutated form develops to easily infect humans. We can only hope that is will become much less lethal as it does so — only time will tell.

Better make sure that your community is stocking up on Tamiflu — not a chance in hell that our federal government will be able to manage an avian flu pandemic if one occurs, without a tremendous amount of support from local and state governments. The clock is ticking . . . (db)

[Ebola, Virgin Atlantic, Avian Flu, Indonesia, H5N1, Hillingdon Hospital[/tags]

From China View:

KATHMANDU, March 5 (Xinhuanet) — Over 2,000 pigs have died of an unidentified disease in some villages of Morang district in eastern Nepal in the past two months, an official said Sunday.

The disease, first seen in Dangihat and Karanari village of Morang district, some 300 km east of Kathmandu, claimed the lives of over 1,000 pigs in Letang village alone, Shambhu Yadav, an official of the District Livestock Services Office (DLSO), said, adding that eight boars and four buffaloes also died of the disease.

“The disease is believed to be air borne but we have not launched any investigation into it,” Yadav noted.

Earlier, it was suspected that swine fever was the cause of the deaths but outbreak of avian flu in India has terrified the farmers of Morang district located close to India.

Farmers have been disposing the carcass of diseased animals in the nearby forest and the environment has been polluted there, according to Yadav.

Fever, dysentery, yawning and lack of appetite are the symptoms of the disease, Yadav added.

At least the 300 dead ducks in Guangzhou were due to infections by Infective Serositis and not the H5N1 virus, however it is reported that a 32 year-old local resident died from H5N1.

It’s the 2,000 pig deaths, and the speculation that this infection is airborne that raises all the red flags! Add in China’s secrecy and this looks dicey!

But, we’re ready for the pandemic, right? Federal, State and Local agencies have our back? Not according to Michael Brown, former head of FEMA and current Hurricane Katrina scapegoat for the Bush administration in an interview with Chris Wallace this AM on FoxNews Sunday. Hey GW, I love ya man, but to me, Fran Townsend’s coming off as an attack poodle for Chertoff and Homeland Security and Brownie’s making a lot of sense.

Chris, I think we’re worse off. If you look at what’s happening in FEMA, they still have — Chief Paulison is now talking about the hundreds of vacancies they can’t fill. There’s still this confusion about what FEMA is supposed to do and not do.

The partnerships between FEMA and state and local governments have been broken and will continue to be broken by the path that the secretary is headed down. So I think we’re worse off today than we were even before Katrina.
(…)
Not yet. And I think what they need to do is recognize that FEMA — despite the politics of it, FEMA needs to be pulled out of the Department of Homeland Security because it has a different mission, it has a different culture, and until it’s independent, with its own budget and its own relationships with state and local government, it will continue to falter.
(…)
I’m telling you that they ought to demand right now that FEMA be pulled out. These people on the Hill ought to pull FEMA out right now, make it independent, and cut out the baloney.

Hurricane Katrina was a disaster of Biblical proportions. An H5N1 pandemic would make that two for two. If we haven’t figured out and fixed what went wrong with our response system for something that involved a handful of our Gulf states, how can we possibly manage something that will be killing tens of thousands — all over the entire country?

The most frightening reality of all is that the Federal Government has proved that it can’t react timely on events of the scope of Katrina, or of an H5N1 pandemic. In fairness, it probably never will have that ability. But for the good of us all, it must pro act, especially in insisting on state and local agencies to plan for what they will be called on to do. An avian flu pandemic will be in the hands of the first responders: paramedics, doctors, nurses, police, local health agencies . . . their efforts will determine if the death toll will be in the thousands, or hundred-thousands — or worse.

Let’s hope that they are as brave as those gallant police and firefighters that raced up the towers on 9/11! (db)

Technorati Tags: Avian Flu, H5N1, Nepal, KATHMANDU, Morang district, pig deaths, FEMA, Michael Brown, FoxNews

More Avian Flu news that is less than good:

Avian flu – the deadly H5N1 version that has killed 88 people out of a total of 165 confirmed human cases since 2003 — has finally reached Africa, the world’s poorest continent.

In the worst possible case scenario the H5N1 virus was detected this month in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one of its poorest.

If there was a country least equipped to deal with avian flu, Nigeria is at the top of the World Health Organization list. It has weak veterinary and public health infrastructures and a very large and poor population that depends on poultry for food.

Unfortunately, there will be more later . . . (db)

Technorati Tags: Avian Flu, Nigeria, Africa

. . . A glimmer of hope? From today’s LA Times:

Pennsylvania researchers have produced a bird flu vaccine made from a genetically engineered human cold virus and shown that it protected 100% of vaccinated mice and chickens.

Production of a conventional flu vaccine requires months of work and large numbers of fertilized chicken eggs, but the researchers reported Thursday that they prepared their vaccine in 36 days, growing it in a laboratory dish.

The ability to produce a new vaccine so quickly could give public health officials a powerful tool to combat the H5N1 bird flu virus if it should mutate and begin infecting humans widely.

Only 36 days to a 100% effective vaccine — Amazing! We can only hope that this is not a hoax, and that human trials go well.

At least there’s a glimmer . . . (db)

All over the world scientists are studying the H5N1 avian flu virus, trying to figure out if this is the one that will put the planet’s human population in dire peril. CBC News has this report today.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu may be so deadly to bird cells because of a protein it produces, a genetic study suggests.

Researchers in the U.S. performed the first major genetic analysis of more than 300 flu viruses that have infected people, birds and pigs on four continents.
(…)
The H5N1 bird flu virus and the virus that killed millions of people in the 1918 pandemic both carried the protein, the team found.

But viruses that normally circulate every flu season do not carry the avian protein, and neither did the viruses that caused less deadly pandemics in 1957 and 1968.

Just another piece of this deadly puzzle . . . (db)

[Update]

One of my Oklahoma readers left this in the comments, but it deserves to be in the post:

Scary stuff, to be sure. I fear this flu and I fear Mad Cow disease, or more correctly it’s human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. (CJD) Humans get C.J.D. from eating beef infected with Mad Cow. Like the bird flu, It supposedly has a specific deadly prion associated with it also. CJD has an unknown incubation period, so it’s impossible to tell where and when one came into contact with it. Like Mad Cow, it is a spongiform encephalopathic disease, meaning it literally eats holes in the brain. So far rare and sporadic in nature for reasons unknown, It is 100% fatal within 12 months.

Two months ago, my neighbor Bill was as healthy as could be. Tonight he is in a nursing home, not knowing who he or anyone else is. Bill has C.J.D. Pray for him please.

That we will do, Glenn . . . (db)

Technorati Tags: avian flu, H5N1, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD

We like to think that we live in the modern, advance world, where our current state of medicines will protect or cure us from almost anything. We actually live like we believe that even though for decades we have been reading and hearing about HIV, Hepatitis C and others, that the drug industry just doesn’t have cures for. And then there is the common flu, not the super-scary H5N1 avian flu that has the whole world on edge, just those whose combinations that we get vaccinations for every year. The CDC recently made an announcement that brings to mind the phrase, something wicked this way comes.

The government, for the first time, is urging doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight influenza after discovering that the predominant strain of the virus has built up high levels of resistance to them at alarming speed.

A whopping 91 percent of virus samples tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this flu season proved resistant to rimantadine and amantadine, a huge increase since last year, when only 11 percent were.

The discovery adds to worries about how to fight bird flu should it start spreading among people. Health officials had hoped to conserve use of two newer antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, because they show activity against bird flu, unlike the older drugs.
(…)
CDC officials took the unusual step of calling a Saturday news conference to announce that the predominant strain this season – the type A H3N2 influenza strain – was resistant to the older drugs.

“Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine … because the drugs will not be effective,” said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding.

She said the lab tests, which CDC scientists had been analyzing since Friday, surprised health officials and the health agency rushed to get the word out.

“I don’t think we were expecting it to be so dramatic so quickly this year,” Gerberding said. “We just didn’t feel it was responsible to wait three more days during a holiday weekend to let clinicians know.”

The CDC tested 120 influenza A virus samples from the H3N2 strain and found that 109 were resistant to the two drugs. Two years ago, less than 2 percent of the samples were resistant. Last year, 11 percent were.

Gerberding said the agency didn’t know how the resistance occurred, saying it may have been the result of a mutation in the virus or overuse of the drugs abroad, such as in countries that permit the drugs to be purchased without a prescription.

One flu expert, Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, said the development was “disconcerting” as flu now has joined the ranks of other diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, that recently have acquired the ability to resist front-line medications.

Yeah, I think that may be it — something wicked . . . (db)

Writing has been light for a few days, as I have been hammered with duties, helping the Good Wife in her office, going to the LA Car Show with my clients (we’re in the auto aftermarket business), and doing client work, that sort of stuff, which has left only a little time to read the blogs and watch a bit of the Alito hearings.

Of which, during lunch yesterday I watched the entirety of Russ Feingold’s questioning. I lost count of how many times he said something on the order of, “I know that you won’t be able to answer this question, but . . .”, but it was a lot! And, he just kept on asking, and Alito just kept on side-stepping, ’cause he couldn’t answer. Feingold was trying to pin Alito down on whether he thought that the NSA’s monitoring of communications into the U.S. was legal, or permissible under law, although he certainly didn’t word it that way, more something like, “Bush’s illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens . . .”. Obviously this will be litigated up to the Supreme Court, and Justice Alito when confirmed will have to hear this one, so he can’t provide a preliminary analysis or answer. Just more Democratic Senatorial Blowhard syndrome.

Not that it is a purely Democratic problem. I had to get back to work, so I turned on my least favorite Commi radio station out here in the last of the lost, KPFK, because they were broadcasting the hearing live and uninterrupted. Without the visual distraction of the TV image, you certainly are struck by how pompous and looooong the Senator’s questions are — and that goes for almost all of the Senators on both sides of the isle. Ankle Biting Pundits has this breakdown of yesterday’s questioning and it’s a real eye-opener.

Democrats

“Rosary Joe” Biden 78-22% (DE) (3,673 – 1,013) (a 1,879 word, and 13 minute opening “question”)

Chuck Schumer (NY) 75-25% (3,555-1,165)

Ted Kennedy (MA) 69-31% (3,439-1,539)

Pat Leahy (VT) 60-40% (2,714-1,874)

Russ Feingold (WI) 56-44% (2,976-2,364)

Diane Feinstein (CA) 42-58% (1,912-2,593)

Herb Kohl (WI) 37-63% (1,835-3,094)

Republicans

Mike DeWine (OH) 72-28% (3,398-1,323) (Corrected from 82%-18%)

Lindsey Graham (SC) 65-35% (3,032-1,643)

Jeff Sessions (AL) 61-39% (2,827-1,773)

John Cornyn (TX) 56-44% (3,407-1,900)

Jon Kyl (AZ) 53-47% (2,594-2,255)

Orrin Hatch (UT) 54-46% (2,686-2,242)

Chuck Grassley (IA) 51-49% (2,305-2,183)

Arlen Specter (PA) 50-50% (2,232-2,194)

One would have thought that these guys should have learned during the John Rober’s hearings that if you take up all of your allotted time with you doing all the talking, the nominee doesn’t have to say much, which is very good indeed for the nominee. Alito is answering a lot more questions than Roberts did, but the Senators are so in love with the sound of their own voices, they just can’t resist bloviating away their minutes. Hugh Hewitt says this on his blog about yesterday’s sessions.

After watching some late night “highlights” of the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats’ collective meltdown yesterday –thank you again, Joe Biden–
I was reminded of those massive pile-ups on California’s I-5 or the 99 when the fog descends but the drivers insist on plowing ahead into the murk.

Beginning with Pat Leahy and continuing all day and into the evening, Democrat after Democrat drove at high speed into a brilliant jurist with 15 years of appellate court experience backed up by prosecutorial chops.

Like they were ever going to lay a glove on him.

What a bunch of windbags! Gotta tune in today some, this is just too much fun!

Couple more items that you should persue. The Avian Flu is causing a great deal of concern in Turkey. Hugh warns our local governments here in the U.S. that there will be hell to pay if they don’t prepare for an outbreak over here.

Iran has broken the IAEA’s seals at a nuclear enrichment facility and will soon be resuming it’s research. Tony Blair says that the West will sanction Iran for this new hostile action.

And, Hell froze over yesterday — podcast was at eleven . . . (db)

Not to be an alarmist or anything, but this is really not good at all! From the Times Online UK:

THE number of Turkish people thought to be infected with avian flu rose to more than 50 this weekend, prompting concern that the disease may be about to spread into Europe.

Yesterday a British laboratory confirmed that a Turkish brother and sister who died last week had the feared H5N1 strain of avian flu.

A third child from the same family in Dogubayazit, in eastern Turkey, has now died of avian flu and dozens more suspected cases have emerged.

“The laboratory in the UK said that they have detected H5N1 in samples of the two fatal cases,” said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation. They are the first fatalities outside East Asia.

The disease is most likely to have been carried to Turkey by migratory birds, which have already spread it across Asia and parts of Russia. Last year a number of birds with the illness were found in Europe. The fear is that these will cross-infect domestic poultry, which will pass the disease on to humans.

Yesterday six more children who have tested positive for avian flu remained in a critical condition in the Turkish city of Van, near Dogubayazit. Another 24 suspected cases are being treated in a special ward in the university hospital.

A further 18 patients with symptoms of the disease, most of them children, are being treated in hospitals in the eastern cities of Yozgat, Erzurum and Diyarbakir. Other cases are being investigated.

The more the virus comes into contact with humans, the more likely it is to mutate into a form that can be transmitted between people. This has not yet happened; if it does it could start a global pandemic.

The H5N1 strain has killed half of all the people who have contracted it. The Spanish flu of 1918, which killed 40m people, was fatal in fewer than one in 10 cases. [Emph. mine]

At the same time that Europe is staring down the double gun barrels of Avian Flu and Islamofacist Terrorism, our government’s efforts on both fronts are being downplayed, or even ridiculed, by our own home-grown Leftists. Case in point is todays LA Times’ Currents column by Madeline Drexler, Dr. Bush’s flu flim-flam, in which she characterizes the Bush administration’s anti-avian flu preparations as nothing but pure spin.

NEARLY 2 MILLION Americans could die in a flu pandemic, which many scientists say is not just inevitable but long overdue. In such an emergency, national leaders would need to be forthright and candid to gain our trust — or risk chaos.

But recent polls show that President Bush’s approval ratings have sunk below 50% and that deception about the Iraq war, as well as federal mismanagement after Hurricane Katrina, have hurt his credibility. That loss of public faith is almost as scary as the virus itself. When citizens are skeptical or defiant in the face of severe disease, fear becomes epidemic, leading to confusion and often needless deaths.

Gee Maddi, wonder why the general public has such a low regard for our President, at least in the polls that you consider valid. Could it be the virtual non-stop pounding that he takes in the overwhelmingly liberal MSM? Could it be that all those Lefty writers and editors, like yourself, screech out “Bush Lied” about WMDs in Iraq, even though plenty of your own, like Clinton and Kerry believed that they existed because they saw and trusted the same intellegence info that Bush did?

After going through her mantra of Bush failures: how this administration has lost the trust of the American people, and how time was wasted on anti-terrorism preparation instead of gearing up to fight this flu, she finally gets to her true Leftist agenda, national health care.

To truly earn the public’s trust, national officials should issue regular progress reports on the nuts and bolts of protecting us (and the rest of the world) against a lethal flu virus. The issue should be kept front and center, just as our leaders manage to keep the terrorism threat front and center. As a bonus, officials might draw up national plans to revive the long-neglected public health system and guarantee healthcare for all Americans, even in non-pandemic times.

You know, they really just can’t help themselves! And, there is truth in parts of her column. The world as we know it can’t survive an 18-month quarantine on International travel and trade. All the world’s economies would collapse into severe depression, and anarchy would run rampant. Huge political upheavals would take place, and when all the death and destruction was finally over, our world would be a very different place, that’s for sure.

We can only hope and pray that this outbreak in Turkey is still infected bird-to-human contact and not the opening salvo of this virus’ direct hunan-to-human ability to spread itself. ‘Cause if that’s the case, it’s already too late to avoid the pandemic. That person on the bus, train 0r plane sitting next to you coughing his or her head off just might have recently been to Istanbul, or knows someone that has.

I’ve just recently gotten over a 10-day respiratory assault that kicked me so hard to the curb I can’t imagine being sicker without dying. I sure hope that I won’t be finding out any time soon! (db)

This really is NOT good news — from Reuters:

Indonesia said on Monday a 20-year-old woman has died of bird flu and several other countries also reported more suspected cases in people.

Adding to the sense of alarm, researchers in Vietnam say the H5N1 avian flu virus has mutated allowing it to replicate more easily inside humans and other mammals. Taiwan said it had detected another bird flu strain that can infect people.
(…)
In Vietnam, scientists at the Ho Chi Minh Pasteur Institute who have been studying the genetic make up of H5N1 samples taken from people and poultry said it had undergone several mutations.

“There has been a mutation allowing the virus to (replicate) effectively in mammal tissue and become highly virulent,” the institute said on its Web site at www.pasteur-hcm.org.vn. [emph mine]

Daily information updates can be found here. Think I’ll dust off that old copy of The Stand, might need a few pointers pretty soon. (db)

[Update]

Rick over at the Holy Coast brings this to our attention.

And you thought sauerkraut was just repellent to people with good taste; it also may be a deterrant to the H5N1 virus that causes avian flu:

Too bad Rick doesn’t seem to like ‘kraut, cause boiled in German beer with some bone-in country pork ribs, it’s gooooooooood! Guess it’s time to get out Mom’s 5-gal crock and start rottin’ up some cabbage! (db)

[Update]

The Weekly Standard has an article, Fuss and Feathers by Michael Fumento , that pours a good bit of cold water on the flaming hysteria over H5N1.

Bottom line? We are all going to die. But from various causes. There probably will be another pandemic, but nobody knows when or what its origin will be. We do know that with every month that passes, we’ll be better prepared. Unless the current panic, having failed to materialize, makes us overly complacent. That’s a real possibility. In 1976, swine flu went from “next pandemic” to laugh line on Saturday Night Live in record time. And as for those anointed experts, public health officials, and reporters whose wall calendars always read “1918″–it’s time to buy a new one.

Guess we’ll get to see who’s vaccine reins supreme! (Sorry Iron Chef fans . . .) (db)

No posting until this eve. as I am off to the giant arena of mufflers, intakes and everything GoFast! Looks like the Left is declaring Aramgeddon, Bush is proposing spending over 7 Billion on bird flu protection, (see Drudge), and the rest of us on the center-right are ready for a fight!

Go team! (db)

It’s raining in Los Angeles. No, stop laughing . . . I mean it’s really raining here, with lightening and thunder, chance of hail and tornadoes — shoot, there was rotation in the clouds near Castaic around 2pm today. Flash flood watch in the valley throughout tomorrow — sounds like home!

I don’t say this around the wife, a SoCal native, but I do love the rain. It smells good, washes away all the powered grunge that falls out of the air here. It makes you appreciate the other 330 plus-some-odd days when the sky is clear and the air is dry.

Of course, a county with as much paved square miles as Los Angeles County doesn’t tolerate much moisture falling from the heavens as does much of the rest of the U.S. I remember my first years out here, working in Van Nuys, and when it rained, water ran wheel-hub deep on Sherman Way.

Wow, here I am blogging about the weather. Shows you just how sick I am of the Harriet Miers’ nomination conundrum. Give it a rest folks, let the woman have her hearings already. If you just have to get into this some more, go here, and here.

And now the AP is all bothered by the high number of YES votes on the Iraqi constitution. I swear, if the MSM could take up arms, they would be shooting at our guys.

Drudge reports that Madonna has gotten some sort of religion! Nothing like tearing society a new a_hole and then atoning for your sins by warning about what you have been serving up for decades. But, better late than never, I guess — if it’s real.

The bird flu is coming, the bird flu is coming — We are not uninformed, a vaccine is in the works, we have Tamiflu and Relenza, we can use the military to quarantine affected areas — if it kills millions of us, we aren’t supposed to stop it. Sounds like prayers are in order here for sure . . . (db)

It’s Sunday evening and I am finally getting a chance to post something. I’ve gotta tell ya, the last few weeks — hell, last few months — has worn us all down here in CA Okie Central. The wife is a tax accountant, with her own business, and this year was a bear for her, for a whole slew of reasons that I won’t go into here, but they did involve new systems, employee replacements, too much stuff like that. I’ve been in total immersion mode, learning accounting, or at least enough, to help her with payroll clients, financial statements, et all, and that has definitely cut into my blogging time. Oct. 15th, actually this year, the 17th, is the final deadline for filing 2004 tax returns — everyone except for one has picked up, and that one is done and will pick up tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, and Tues., I will be at her office because she is in a two-day seminar learning all about, you guessed it, the 2005 tax code changes. Her season begins again in less than 3 months. Sure hope that we can find some time to get away, ’cause she sure needs it — I know that because I know that I need it, too. So while I am here alone with our two cats and an old dog, fixing and eating home-made pizza-pie and Caesar salad, let’s get into a few things, shall we?

Bother — it’s starting to really rain in Anaheim, and the Angels have a 1-run lead. Won’t mean much if they don’t win tonight and the next game in Chicago, then they can play for the American League pennant. … Oh, well. Just had dinner at the end of 8, the Sox are ahead by one. Looks like the Angeles finally get to go on break.

Iraq voted on it’s proposed constitution yesterday. Quite an accomplishment in any means of measurement . . . well, evidently not in however the Los Angeles Times chooses to evaluate these things. Take today’s edition, their page-one headline was Sunnis Join Millions for Iraq Charter Vote, with the sub-head of Polling is calm with high turnout in three provinces dominated by the minority, which has opposed the draft as divisive. Kurd and Shiite numbers are low. The Electoral Commission of Iraq reported a 61% turnout in those low turnout areas, with higher turnouts in the Sunnis regions. But look at that sub-head again and consider this, if we ever had a 61% turnout here in the U.S. for a national election, everyone would be stunned, but here, it’s considered low by the left-leaning LA Times. Inside, it’s all Sunnis, all the time, with even more pronouncements on the anti-constitutional sentiment in that area.

You know, I’m kinda thinking that this LA Times organization is rooting for the Iraqi constitution to fail. These folks hate the Bush administration so much that they wish months or even years more of turmoil and bloodshed on the good people of Iraq. That’s kind of pathetic if you ask me, and if I were to tell you what I really think about the Times’ editorial staff, well, let’s just say I can’t use that kind of language on my blog.

Currently on their online edition, they are saying that the constitution is likely to pass:

Iraq’s draft constitution has garnered enough votes to pass in a key province, making it very likely that it will become the law of the land.

Opponents of a controversial draft constitution failed to come up with enough votes to defeat it in Nineveh province, which includes the ethnically and religiously mixed cities of Mosul and Tall Afar, several sources in the northern province said.

According to officials tallying initial results, 322,000 voters in the province voted yes compared to 90,000 who voted no.

Their coverage is still predominantly pro-Sunnis position. Guess the majority Shiite and Kurd positions don’t count for much because they line up with our country’s current focus. Geez! Maybe I am the last conservative to continue reading the Los Angeles Times. Always was a little masochistic! And don’t you just love this online headline from the AP? Sunnis Appear to Fall Short in Iraq Vote The MSM just can’t stand it — the it being that George W. Bush was right, that the Iraqi people actually want to vote and decide their own destiny rather than be raped and thrown into plastic shredders by Saddam and his sons, that . . . sh_t, the MSM just doesn’t care about any of this at all!

Speaking of Iraq,
Michael Yon is back in business and embedded with the troops again, but getting to that point is quite a story in and of itself.

Apparently the terrorists like it better when fewer reporters are around to peel back the layers of their insurgent press machine and reveal its rotten core. The Americans may think they get bad press, but apparently the terrorists think they get worse. Everybody, it seems, is a victim of bad press, including (ironically) the professionals who print it, because they get shot by everybody, with words and bullets.

Good luck Michael, and Godspeed and by all means, take care!

This week the White House will attempt to re-launch the Harriet Miers’ nomination. I hope that they succeed. I would like to see Bill Kristol, Kraulthhammer et all to eat some crow pie, and then step back in line to get this Supreme Court lined out with some strict constructionists judges. If you want to be the President, then run for office, dammit!

Another tropical storm might become a hurricane in the Gulf. I don’t know if God is trying to tell us something or not, but maybe we outta err on the side of caution and start paying attention.

Several of my fellow SCBA bloggers were fortunate to attend GodBlogCon at Biola University this last week. John Schroeder has his wrap up here, and Rick Moore has his here. I couldn’t attend because . . . well see the top of this post. Maybe next year. Thall shall not covet . . . well, I can’t help it this time! (db)

This is really not good! From the A/P as reported in the Dallas Morning News:

Leading a multinational team of medical experts to mobilize Southeast Asian nations against bird flu, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Monday the likelihood of a flu pandemic in the future is “very high.”

Leavitt, accompanied by the director of the World Health Organization and other top health professionals, is visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to seek their collaboration in preparing for the anticipated public health emergency.
DallasNews.com/extra

In the past 2 1/2 years, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in Southeast Asia, also infecting humans and killing at least 65 people. The virus does not pass from person to person easily, but experts believe this could change if the virus mutates.

Leavitt said there were three influenza pandemics in the last century and “the likelihood of another is very high, some say even certain.”

“Whether or not H5N1 is the virus that will ultimately trigger such a pandemic is unknown to us,” he said at a news conference. “The probability is uncertain. But the warning signs are troubling. Hence we are responding in a robust way.”

Newsweek highlights the Race Against Avian Flu while Reuters reports that some experts say that vaccines and drugs, such as Tamiflu, will not be the answer to stop an avian flu pandemic.

Many governments around the world are stockpiling antiviral drugs and some companies are trying to speed up vaccine production but these measure give a false sense of security and will do little to counter a flu pandemic, an expert cautioned on Monday.

Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert who has been studying the risk of pandemic flu for decades and is a U.S. government adviser, said governments should be preparing to cope with the pandemic instead of relying entirely on the hope of using vaccines and drugs to control it.

If the H5N1 avian flu begins to easily infect humans, it will move too quickly for drugs and vaccines to be of much use, Osterholm said.

“It doesn’t matter if we have a vaccine now or not. We can’t make it,” Osterholm said in a telephone interview.

There were three flu pandemics in the 20th Century, the “Spanish flu“, 1918-1919, the “Asian Flu“, 1957-58 & the “Hong Kong Flu“, 1968-69.

The 1918-19 flu killed over 500,000 in the U.S., while the 1957-58 flu killed 70,000 and the 1968-69 flu killed 34,000. Sounds like a good trend, but when you consider that the last two pandemics were versions of established human flu viruses, and that new research is showing that the 1918 flu was most likely a variation of avian influenza, similar to H5N1 that is worrying us today, there is no good trend to consider.

Control measures are paramount if a pandemic is discovered to be happening. A vaccine would be 6 months or more away, and due to genetic mutation of the virus itself, maybe not even effective. The world will not be able to produce enough Tamiflu or Relenza in time, and mutations could make the virus resistant to them as well. The ease of world-wide travel would spread it in a matter of weeks, if not days, which is much too fast for our health agencies to act. In the third world, well — there just wouldn’t be a third world anymore . . .

Let’s all hope that we dodge the bullet this flu season, ’cause we sure aren’t ready now! (db)

This sure doesn’t sound very good –

“This virus [H5N1] right from scratch is probably the worst influenza virus, in terms of being highly pathogenic, that I’ve ever seen or worked with,” Webster says. Not only is it frighteningly lethal to chickens, which can die within hours of exposure, swollen and hemorrhaging, but it kills mammals from lab mice to tigers with similar efficiency. Here and there people have come down with it too, catching it from infected poultry. Half the known cases have died.

Go and read the rest of this segment, which is pretty scary — but you’re going to have to buy the National Geographic to read it all. Sounds like $$$ well spent! (db)