05/09 | Daily BF: Experts fear bird flu movie may spur panic

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=196597

Human Cases

Since January, 2004 WHO has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the following countries:

* East Asia and the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Indonesia
o Thailand
o Vietnam

* Europe & Eurasia:
o Azerbaijan
(see update)
o Turkey

* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq

For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Health Organization Web Site.

Updated April 3, 2006

Animal Cases

Since December 2003, avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries:

* Africa:
o Burkina Faso
o Cameroon
o Niger
o Nigeria
o Sudan

* East Asia & the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Hong Kong (SARPRC)
o Indonesia
o Japan
o Laos
o Malaysia
o Mongolia
o Myanmar (Burma)
o Thailand
o Vietnam

* South Asia:
o Afghanistan
o India
o Kazakhstan
o Pakistan

* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq (H5)
o Iran
o Israel
o Jordan

* Europe & Eurasia:
o Albania
o Austria
o Azerbaijan
o Bosnia & Herzegovina
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o Czech Republic (H5)
o Denmark
o France
o Georgia
o Germany
o Greece
o Hungary
o Italy
o Poland
o Romania
o Russia
o Serbia & Montenegro
o Slovak Republic
o Slovenia
o Sweden
o Switzerland
o Turkey
o Ukraine
o United Kingdom


For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Organization for Animal Health Web Site.

Updated April 24, 2006

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm

WHO, Avian Flu Timeline in .pdf: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/timeline.pdf

Experts fear bird flu movie may spur panic​

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent 2 hours, 26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A film about a fictional bird flu pandemic that will air on television on Tuesday has experts worried it will panic some people and convince others that legitimate warnings are mere hype.

But the same experts are taking advantage of publicity surrounding the made-for-television movie to stress what they see as the need for individuals, businesses and local officials to do what they can to prepare.

The Health and Human Services Department issued "talking points" to staff who may get questions about the movie, Pennsylvania is rolling out a new Web site and telephone line to coincide with the release, and the Trust for America's Health held a briefing to try to sort fact from fiction.

"Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" features scenes with actors wearing spacesuit-like protective gear, a terrified populace and an ending scene in which most residents of an African village lie dead.

"I am not happy," said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota public health expert who has been warning about and consulting on the threat of an influenza pandemic.

"I worry that this could very well be portrayed by many as ultimate example of sensationalism," Osterholm told reporters in a telephone briefing on Monday.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has been found in birds in more than 48 countries. It has killed 115 people out of 207 sick enough to be treated at hospitals.

Bird flu only rarely infects people now, but scientists agree it could evolve into a form that transmits directly from person to person. If it did, it could infect hundreds of million of people within a few weeks or months.

RAISING AWARENESS

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has been holding meetings in the 50 states and territories to convince businesses, educators and individuals to prepare for a pandemic that could throw 40 percent of the workforce out of action for weeks on end.

"While the movie does serve to raise awareness about avian and pandemic flu, we hope it will inspire preparation -- not panic," the HHS talking points read.

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Calvin Johnson and state Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced the launch of their Web site, http://www.pandemicflu.state.pa.us/, to coincide with the TV film.

"It is our hope that this movie will draw people to more reliable sources for information such as the Department of Health's 1-877-PA-HEALTH line and the Web site we've launched today," Johnson said in a statement.

The entertainment industry does not have a pristine record on medical matters. A Mayo Clinic neurologist reported on Monday that motion pictures inaccurately represent the coma.

"Generally, there is a pattern of inaccuracy. It's an enormous caricature," Dr. Eelco Wijdicks said in a statement. Most films great exaggerate how often patients recover completely from extended comas, Wijdicks said.

A film based on Richard Preston's novel "the Hot Zone" similarly exaggerated the effects and spread of the Ebola virus.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060508/ts_nm/birdflu_television_dc

7 May 2006 18:14 GMT DJ

Health Secy Leavitt: US 'Overdue' For Pandemic ​

Copyright © 2006, Dow Jones Newswires

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition" that the U.S. is overdue for a pandemic, saying that communities have to take steps in case the bird flu becomes a crisis.

"We're overdue for a pandemic, but we're underprepared. And we're working on every front at this moment to prepare for an event of that type," Leavitt said.

He said it wouldn't be a "big surprise if we saw the (H5N1 bird flu virus) in the next few months."

He noted that for it to be a pandemic, it would have to be transmitted efficiently through human-to-human contact. Right now, humans appear to contract it only from birds.

He said a modern pandemic could lead to the deaths of up to 2 million people in the U.S.

He also said the federal government would be unable to assist each community in the nation if there was an outbreak, and communties must prepare their own responses.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 07, 2006 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006050718140000&Take=1

I don't think this is going to spur the panic they're fearing, but hopefully those that do become aware will at least prepare, the majority will look at this as pure entertainment value, much like the movie "The Stand". JMO

Fuzzychick said:

I don't think this is going to spur the panic they're fearing, but hopefully those that do become aware will at least prepare, the majority will look at this as pure entertainment value, much like the movie "The Stand". JMO

Click to expand...

Captain Tripps was way faster acting than H5N1, but the similarities are eerie! Especially after the news last week of H5N1 in the blood... "Outbreak" might be an movie comparison to also consider?

I was thinking of that one also PCV, but "The Stand" is a classic the vast majority can relate too.

I agree about the movie Outbreak..

but with all the media coverage of possible bird flu, I wouldn't be surprised if it does cause some panic buying and maybe enough to show people that supermarkets do not have a never-ending supply on hand.

By JOHN MINER, FREE PRESS HEALTH REPORTER

Long-term care facilities may have to throw out the rule book during a severe flu pandemic, including policies that sick employees stay home, those attending a London conference were told yesterday.

"We may get to the point where we may be asking people to work even if they are mildly ill," said Dr. Mary Vearncombe, an epidemiologist at the Sunnybrook/ Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

"We will need to have every warm body that is standing up to work," she said.

Vearncombe told a packed session of the national conference of infection control professionals that long-term care facilities can expect high levels of staff absenteeism during a flu pandemic.

Not only will health-care workers be hit with the flu at the same rate as the general population, but it is expected they will be under pressure to stay home and take care of sick family members.

"I suggest (we) start talking to staff now about the health- care worker being the essential worker in the family. If mom is a nurse and dad works in business and the kids get sick, maybe dad should stay home for a change," she said.

In a normal influenza outbreak, staff at long-term care facilities are allowed to work if they have been vaccinated or taking anti-viral drugs.

In a pandemic, that restriction may have to be abandoned, Vearncombe said.

"It is not the kind situation where we are going to say we are going to exclude anybody," she said.

In a severe staff shortage situation, where ill staff are used, the sick workers will help with patients that already have the flu, she said.

Long-term care facilities are expected to ask part-time workers to go full-time during a pandemic, but such staff often work at more than one facility.

"We are all going to be in competition with each other.

"You need to be talking to those people ahead of time and come to some kind of understanding whether they are going to be going with you or someplace else," Vearncombe said.

Other non-professional staff and volunteers might also have to be recruited to provide some patient care. Facilities should be looking at providing training now, she said.

Vearncombe also recommended facilities keep an up-to-date list of recent retirees who could be called in to help and "Non-essential leaves should be cancelled."

Long-term care workers are on the government's priority list to receive anti-viral drugs to protect against influenza, but that does not guarantee they will be available, she said.

During a pandemic, anti-viral drugs will be keenly sought. Facilities need to start thinking about providing the same security for their supply of the drugs as they do for narcotics, Vearncombe said.

"They are like gold," she said.

The Community and Hospital Infection Control Association national conference runs until Wednesday.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2006/05/08/1569122-sun.html

Yep, I bet there will be a run on Costco and grocery stores and stocking up on food, water, and over the counter meds as well as ammo and guns Wednesday. There will probably be an unusually high number of people wanting large amounts of CASH Wednesday too.

8 - 10 / p on Channel 2 (ABC) in Portland, Oregon. Hope to watch it.

If avian flu retains its current lethality in humans if / when it goes H2H this movie will not be showing anything approaching reality. The fatality rate at current human mortality is very high and if many people in any one location concurrently come down with this deadly virus the mortality percentage will near 100% because there simply are not enough ventilators, support staff, drugs, wherewithall of all type to provide the INTENSE advanced care necessary to pull a human body through this disease.

This movie won't be able to depict all the breakdowns of society globally that would likely commence if this particular highly pathogenic avian flu goes H2H and retains its current lethality.

I think the possibilities may carry a tiny bit more OH $#!+ voltage to thinking people after Katrina, where ppl could see government and society fail in a large swath of USA land for a long time. Corruption writ large and horrifying. Just extrapolate to the entire globe at once, multiply for months, add the total fear of death and dying and stench all around, mayhem, and lack of communication and sudden drastic change. TEOTWAWKI.

Ppl are jaded and overexposed to sensationalism so there may not be a spike in prep items flying off shelves. That may come when bodies are visibly piling up in the streets ... and even then young hoodlum gangs will still feel invincible and roam in plundering packs until they succumb to the virus.

I pray nothing ever comes of avian flu going H2H, and that it suddenly mutate to a non-event for birds too. But something soon will have to cleanse the planet of overpopulated ravaging destruction or the planet will no longer be viable. Something is going to happen. All sorts of contestants vying to be the trigger for ELE, and idiot humanimal slumbers on.

We are NOT going to stop this planet wearing out like an old garmet, regardless of what we do to try to prevent it. God warned us that WOULD come.


One of the things that amazes me is the people who are projecting fatality rates have the gall to use figures like a half of one percent to two or three percent projected fatality rates when it is almost 100 % fatal now and the FEW people who ARE saved now are only saved with exotic, intensive medical intervention and advanced lifesaving medical devices and care. ALL OF THAT INTENSIVE PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL CARE WOULD BE TOTALLY UNAVAILABLE TO THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF VICTIMS OF A WIDESPREAD PANDEMIC, THUS GREATLY INCREASING THE FATALITY RATE TO EQUAL THAT OF PREVIOUS CENTURIES AND THIRD WORLD NATIONS SINCE VIRTUALLY NO PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL CARE WOULD BE AVAILABLE TO THE OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF VICTIMS. I would expect we would be lucky to see a 50% fatality rate with 50% contracting the disease. Which makes us see, what? 75 MILLION AMERICANS ALONE DROP DEAD WITHIN A COUPLE OF MONTHS? Which would mean only half of us get the disease(if we are lucky) and half of those that get it drop dead, leaving 3 out of every four alive when the first wave passes through.

That kind of random heavy death rates would put us in real jeopardy of losing ALL of the people in the world who possess specialized knowledge in thousands of practical and scientific fields. Some fields and specialties are populated by a VERY SMALL number of people who actually KNOW how some things work or are built or maintained. (The world lost the BEST formulation for concrete this way, which to date has NEVER been rediscovered.) We also lost the engineering knowledge that created (even today) impossibly heavy construction. Such knowledge has NEVER been rediscovered to date, and was NOT preserved so as to be handed down should ALL it's possessors die unexpectedly.

Officials Organize Medical Corps For Potential Crises​

POSTED: 4:22 pm EDT May 5, 2006
UPDATED: 6:22 pm EDT May 5, 2006

CINCINNATI -- Preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic, officials are asking Tri-State volunteers to step forward for disaster training.

A mobile hospital -- basically a modern-day MASH unit -- rolled into town Friday to show that everyday citizens could help during a crisis.

"It comes together in a field hospital or what we call an alternative care center," public health coordinator Mike Ottoway said. "What the alternate hospital can do is provide hospitals with additional space and beds and supplies."

He told News 5 that officials are working to create a medical reserve corps to help out in regional emergencies.

"We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow -- a hurricane, a tornado, some infectious disease," he said.

Bird flu is at the top of the list of concerns. Experts said 40 percent of the workforce, including police, firefighters and medical professionals, could be incapacitated.

"We don't need to be meeting each other and sharing credentials at the time of the disaster. We need to do that ahead of time," said Jerry Lautz, of the Cincinnati Health Collaborative.

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/9168441/detail.html

I thought that Oprah's bird flu show was going to spark a run on preps.


It did not happen. .



I thought that other movies, like Outbreak and Oil Storm (remember that movie? predicted what would happen if New Orleans was hit with a cat 5 hurricane, only ten weeks before Katrina hit?) would cause a run on preps.


Never happened. .


I thought that, back in 1999, the movie Y2K would spark a run on preps.


Never happened..


Back in 1985, I thought that the movie The Day After would spark a run on preps.



Never happened.

Barry, I'm sensing a pattern... I agree, as I said before the majority will not look at this as a wake up call, one can hope some do...

What really amazes me is that some think there will be Health Care Professionals actually sticking around, even if this virus becomes H2H.

I do hope tomorrow's tv movie provokes some panick and preparation, because the responses I've received from people so far are identical to what I endured before Y2K...that stinks!

Reading about the movie, reminds of Michael Hyatt's book, "The Day the World Shut Down".

Barry, that's scary.

Hmmm, bird flu survival kits....Two cans of beanie-weenie, a gas mask made of old athletic socks and 3 bottles of water. Yeah, there's a sheeple born every day.

Guess I could set up a stand on the corner Wednesday morning.

susie_q said:

What really amazes me is that some think there will be Health Care Professionals actually sticking around, even if this virus becomes H2H.

I do hope tomorrow's tv movie provokes some panick and preparation, because the responses I've received from people so far are identical to what I endured before Y2K...that stinks!

Reading about the movie, reminds of Michael Hyatt's book, "The Day the World Shut Down".

Click to expand...

susie q, I plan on it, I have no intention on running from it, neither do several of my good friends, I understand the dilemma of one of my friends, best friend actually, she has three small children...it's in the blood when you've been doing it as long as some of us have, you just can't walk away.

JohnGaltfla said:

Hmmm, bird flu survival kits....Two cans of beanie-weenie, a gas mask made of old athletic socks and 3 bottles of water. Yeah, there's a sheeple born every day.

Guess I could set up a stand on the corner Wednesday morning.

Click to expand...

John,


You forgot the plastic sheeting, duct tape, powdered milk and tuna....

Barry Natchitoches said:

John,


You forgot the plastic sheeting, duct tape, powdered milk and tuna....

Click to expand...

That's the "DELUXE" 30 day survival kit.

Fuzzychick, I praise God for those like you. God bless you.

susie q, there are alot of us out there with the same mindset, but thank you.

I've been trying to figure out why people refuse to prep even with all the warnings. And I think I have a partial answer.

Barry's post was good for starters but it also may have a whole lot to with the media crying wolf all the time.

About earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorists, etc. And plenty of movies to go with it. And then there is y2k, stock market collapsing, flus, viruses, and a "could this happen to you"? scenario. And it usually doesn't.

Years ago almost everyone canned food and always had food on hand and "nothing happened". It becomes a mindset that nothing will happen.

Nobody teaches about responsibility anymore for something happening. Not parents, schools, or churches (except the Mormon church).

Personally I doubt if there will be any response by the public after this movie. I'm thinking they will just see it as entertainment on the TV unless they're watching American Idol.

I remember reading something about ABC having to have call centers for people calling in scared to death after seeing the movie "The Day After". I wonder if it will be the same with this movie.

Bird Flu May Infect People Through the Gut, Virologist Says​

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aj8QqyqWQokM&refer=top_world_news



May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu may be capable of invading people through the gut, not just the respiratory system, and diarrhea is sometimes the first symptom, said virologist Menno de Jong, whose team observed 18 cases in Vietnam.

Particles of the lethal H5N1 virus contained in the meat and blood of infected poultry may have been ingested by some patients, possibly causing their infection, said De Jong, who is head of the virology department at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City.

``In a number of patients the only exposure risk has been drinking raw duck blood,'' De Jong said in a phone interview yesterday. ``That could imply that the gastrointestinal tract is also a route of transmission or a route of first infection, and there are experiments in animals'' that suggest this.

Scientists are studying H5N1 patients to improve their understanding and treatment of the virus, which has the potential to mutate into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people.

If live virus particles are carried outside the lungs and surrounding tissues to other parts of the body, some antiviral treatments such as inhaled zanamivir, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc as Relenza, may not be effective treatments, De Jong said.

The infection rate in humans is increasing after more than 30 countries across three continents reported initial outbreaks in birds this year. H5N1 has killed at least 115 of the 207 people known to have been infected since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

This year, 39 fatalities have been reported, almost as many as the 41 deaths recorded in the whole of 2005. Vietnam accounts for 93 cases and 42 deaths. The Southeast Asian nation hasn't reported any new infections in about six months.

Infected Birds

In almost all human H5N1 cases, infection was caused by close contact with sick or dead birds, such as children playing with them, or adults butchering them or taking off the feathers, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Cooking meat and eggs properly kills the virus.

In uncomplicated cases of seasonal influenza, disease is limited to infection in the nose, throat and lungs. In contrast, H5N1 was observed to have caused encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, in one patient in Vietnam, De Jong said. Virus particles collected from numerous sites could be cultured, including from the throat, rectum, blood and cerebral spinal fluid, he said.

In Blood

Live H5N1 virus particles were isolated from the blood of an infected 5-year-old Thai boy who was hospitalized and died in December, researchers led by Salin Chutinimitkul of the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said in a letter to a U.S. government journal last week.

``Observing live influenza virus in human serum or plasma is unusual,'' said the letter, which will be printed in the May issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Some scientists believe the virus probably enters the bloodstream in the lowest branches of the tree-like respiratory system, where pulmonary capillaries surround the tiny air sacks, called alveoli, responsible for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.

De Jong said it is possible H5N1 may be replicating in the gastrointestinal tract after the virus was cultured from a rectal swab in a patient who had diarrhea.

``Diarrhea in some patients is the first symptom'' of infection, he said. That could mean that the ``initial site of infection in those particular patients may have been in the gastrointestinal tract, perhaps after the consumption of raw chicken or raw duck products.''

Treatment Challenges

The systemic nature of illness caused by H5N1 poses challenges for treating infected patients because, if the virus is spreading through the blood, so too must drugs that aim to combat the infection.

Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza have shown signs of fighting H5N1.

Some studies have shown the virus binds preferentially to human cells in the lower respiratory tract, whereas the highest concentration of orally inhaled Relenza is found in the upper respiratory tract.

``With the current data and with the current case reports, we should assume that you should seek systemic coverage with drugs,'' De Jong said. ``I think, for instance, that the current formulation of zanamivir isn't going to be of any use in the current avian flu. If a pandemic strain evolves, we have to reconsider it because we won't know if the change in the virus will also have changed the illness.''

GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drugmaker, is developing an intravenous form of Relenza, Nancy Pekarek, a U.S. spokeswoman for the London-based company, said yesterday. Scientists are still formulating the compound, and testing in people hasn't started, she said.

Bird Flu Persists In Seven Locations In Southern Russia​

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006050808210007&Take=1

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--There is still bird flu in seven locations in three regions of southern Russia, a statement issued by the federal veterinary service, Rosselkhoznadzor, says.

There is one location in Krasnodar region, five in Dagestan and one in Volgograd, where birds are still dying of the virus.

Altogether since the beginning of this year bird flu has been reported in 80 locations in 11 regions of southern Russia.

To date 32.9 million poultry have been vaccinated.

I don't foresee any panic buying..maybe one or two here and there. Most I know don't even know about the movie. Actually I doubt any real signifcant activity if even a human case showed up here. Only if and when it begins spreading H-H..then the panic will probably set in all at once. Wll be similar to reactions to other disasters. But I applaud the people trying to get the message out.
Para.

FYI - from the EPA/WHO Update site (25/33 Fatal!):


Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia – update 11

8 May 2006

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed the country’s 33rd case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, which was fatal, occurred in a 30-year-old man from Greater Jakarta. He developed symptoms on 17 April, was hospitalized on 21 April, and died on 26 April.

An investigation to determine the source of his infection is continuing. He lived in close proximity to pens where animals, including poultry, were kept.

Of the 33 laboratory-confirmed cases in Indonesia, 25 have been fatal.

Unique strain to be used for bird flu vaccine ​

May 09 2006 at 11:47AM

Kuala Lumpur - Scientists have isolated a unique Malaysian strain of a flu virus that has caused outbreaks there in recent years, and said it will be used as to create vaccine worldwide for the coming flu season, a news report said on Tuesday.

Although not as severe as the Influenza A virus, the B strain could prove fatal for young children and the elderly, and could badly affect those with diabetes, heart ailments or asthma, the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers reported.

This flu strain was responsible for outbreaks in the Southeast Asian nation in 2004 and last year, the reports said.

"We have detected this virus, which is unique to Malaysia," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek was quoted as saying.

This virus will be used in the formulations of vaccines to fight Flu B."

The reports said the World Health Organisation has issued a directive to pharmaceutical companies to include the new strain in vaccines for the coming flu season.

Health Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.

Flu viruses are categorised by types - Type A, found in animals and people, and Type B, normally found only in humans.

Health officials usually make human vaccines against the disease using viruses from both strains. - Sapa-AP

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1147147201355B254

For those of you saying there hasn't been a run on preps--I only ask what your definition of "run" is. I suppose not, if you're looking for grocery store shelves to be swept clean in a bloody feeding frenzy.

But otherwise, one needs to realize that in the last several months, there has indeed been a very sharp, pronounced increase in the preps business. Not just mine, but everyone who is in this biz is being stretched.

A few very obvious cases in point--

1. Tamiflu. That pipeline had to be closed to the public because of the huge demand.

2. Emergency food ... Mountain House as one example--Consumer demand wiped them out of #10 can inventory in mid-March.

3. High-filtration masks ... various name brands are sailing out the doors as fast as they can be produced and last I heard, 3M was refusing to consider new dealers because their production capacity was already stretched.

4. I'm less in tune with the guns and ammo situation at the moment, but I hear tell this marketplace is also enjoying a very healthy period.

I could go on, but these are some of the more obvious examples. Overall growth in our business over last year (and remember, we had Katrina last year) could easily approach 1000% (yes, 4 digits) with another serious media "goose."

Public awareness of the potential danger of H5N1 is high. A very recent poll showed that 10% of those aware have taken some steps to prepare. To ME, that's scary because we've barely begun the process of getting people to do something for themselves. But of course, we don't want everyone to get the same idea all at once. The production capacity to satisfy everyone all at once is not even close to being there.

going back to the original topic of the concern about what this "movie" will cause, check out this review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=138301&format=text


Fly far, far away: ‘Fatal Contact’ comes down with case of bad acting, ludicrous plot
By Mark Perigard/ Television Review
Monday, May 8, 2006 - Updated: 10:14 AM EST

What a piece of turd.

ABC’s “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America” exists for one reason:
To scare you into messing your shorts.

This poorly shot, underwritten, laughably acted telefilm (tomorrow at 8 p.m. on WCVB, Ch. 5) starts with a potential health threat and hyperventilates the worse possible scenario, all in the quest for ratings.

Blink and you’ll miss the opening disclaimer, which notes that Avian flu, which has killed approximately 125 people worldwide, has not been transmitted in any form that could ignite a pandemic.

“This film is a fictional examination of the question, what if . . .”
What if everyone at ABC underwent simultaneous lobotomies?

Patient Zero here is a Wal-Mart-type manager who, while browbeating the managers of a sweatshop in China, picks up a mutated form of the Avian bug and spreads it through all sorts of casual contact - a dropped napkin, a handshake. The film goes all “CSI” to show the germs as blue balls with spikes ready to demolish healthy cells.

By the time the impeccably coiffed Dr. Iris Varnack (Joely Richardson, “Nip/Tuck”) gets involved, more than 150 people are dead.

“There’s going to be a long and brutal ordeal that will rip apart the fabric of society,” she warns.

Mitt Romney look-alike Scott Cohen (“Law & Order: Trial by Jury”) plays Virginia governor Mike Newsome as a profile in cowardice. His first act is to quarantine the affected neighborhoods behind barbed wire fences and then barricade his family and staff in an underground bunker.

The predictable riots, food shortages and military actions follow. The French develop a vaccine but are stingy about giving it to the United States. A New York City nurse (Justina Machado) behaves heroically until she becomes pregnant and then gives up.

To ratchet the tension, with almost every scene segue, a ticker keeps track of the spiraling numbers of dead.

Of the performers, only Stacy Keach (“Prison Break”) as a federal official deserves to keep his SAG card. Richardson struggles with her medical dialogue, and Cohen seems to be reading his lines for the first time.

Finally, months later, the wave of flu subsides. Then Varnack gets an urgent call about an outbreak in Angola. The film, unbelievably, ends on a note that sets up a possible sequel.

“Fatal Contact” is a horror film masquerading as public service. Avoid it like the plague.


“FATAL CONTACT: BIRD FLU IN AMERICA” Tomorrow at 8 p.m. on WCVB (Ch. 5). Grade: F

Whatever tonight's movies says or doesn't say... Avian Influenza is a fact.

As the Daily BF covers a variety of issues and discussion... there is also a monthly thread devoted to the scientific discoveries and developments with respect to Bird Flu. The thread is call the Avian Influenza Lab Report. Below are links for the past 3 months:

March: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=190070

April: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=192010

May: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=195858

i don't disagree my horn-helmed friend. just pointing out that some out there are already convinced "that legitimate warnings are mere hype." thanks for the links.

8 May 2006 17:40 GMT DJ

UN Bird Flu Crisis Center To Be Opened Within A Month -US ​

ROME (AP)--A U.N. crisis management center to coordinate international efforts against the spread of bird flu will be opened within a month, a top official with the U.S. Agriculture Department said Monday.

The center at the Rome-base Food and Agriculture Organization will dispatch response teams to countries where bird flu is detected in animals and will channel aid, experts and equipment to areas where they are most needed, said Ron DeHaven, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The department, together with the U.S. Agency for International Development, has allocated $4.2 million to help get the center going. The U.S. is urging other countries to pitch in, DeHaven said after talks with U.N. officials and government representatives from around the globe.

It will take eight months for the center to be fully operational, employing 40-50 people and with a projected 3-year budget of $28 million, DeHaven said.

Creating the management center is a key step in combating bird flu in animals and is the best way to reduce the risk of the deadly H5N1 strain mutating into a form capable of causing a human flu pandemic, he said.

"By reducing the virus load that's out there ... you reduce the potential for it to mutate into a pandemic virus that transmits easily from human to human."

FAO's crisis center will keep a list of world experts on animal health, dispatching them to breakout areas to help local officials decide what measures to take, such as culling or vaccination of poultry.

Financial aid for the fight against the virus is expected to come from the $1.9 billion pledged at a Beijing donors conference in January.

The disease has ravaged poultry flocks around the world since 2003 and has killed 115 people worldwide, according to the U.N. World Health Organization. Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds, while experts say that proper cooking of poultry destroys the bird flu virus.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2006 13:40 ET (17:40 GMT)

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006050817400006&Take=1

Perhaps a Polka Dot...

Recently, the Chicago City Council voted and passed an ordinance outlawing foie gras - which is made from duck liver. The spin on the ordinance was that they didn't like killing animals for their livers. At the time I thought the whole thing was a little lame - and a waste of time for all of those aldermen. That is, until I just read about the passing of bird flu through duck blood and duck liver.

The whole thing makes a little more sense now - scarier - but more sense.

Bird flu pandemic will hit young people-biologist​

http://today.reuters.com/investing/...44Z_01_N09255735_RTRIDST_0_BIRDFLU-CANADA.XML

TORONTO, May 9 (Reuters) - One of Canada's top microbiologists warned on Tuesday that school-age children would be most at risk in a bird flu pandemic, echoing a 1918 pandemic that killed millions of people.

"Most cases in humans have been young, reminiscent of 1918," Donald Low, microbiologist-in-chief at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, said in a speech in Toronto.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu that is spreading among birds does not easily infect humans, but it has killed more than 100 people. Experts, including Low, fear it could mutate in to a form that could spread easily and quickly among people.

"The attack rate in a pandemic will be up to 30 percent, and will be highest among school-age children," said Low, who coordinated Toronto's fight against SARS in 2003.

Toronto was the only city outside Asia where people died of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The disease infected 375 people in the city and killed 44.

The 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic killed between 20 million and 50 million people worldwide.

CONSULTANT ON BIRD FLU MOVIE SAYS ABC DIDN'T FOLLOW HIS ADVICE​

The ABC movie Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, which airs tonight (Tuesday), has been denounced by John M. Barry, author of The Great Influenza, about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, who receives on-screen credit as the film's consultant. In an interview with today's (Tuesday) New York Times, Barry said, "To say it's overdone is an understatement." He disclosed that his "consulting" amounted to nothing more than a two-hour conference call and some comments on the script. The newspaper said that Barry compared his role to that of a lawyer whose client pays for advice -- but ignores it.

09/05/2006

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xml...vie says abc didnt follow his advice_09_05_06

Link to tomorrows (5/10) Bird Flu thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=196840