Would This Work???

[Mrs. Peavey]

I've read all the reports on the avian flu on this board and others. If this flu mutates and becomes easily trasmitted from human to human, and we have an outbreak here in the U.S., I've come to the conclusion that the only thing that would stop it would be a swift and total isolation for a period of time.

This would mean that the government would have to act swiftly enough to bring this country to a halt.............closing schools, retail businesses, airports, etc. It would have to be a manditory stoppage and be for a duration of time needed to stop the flu from spreading, and isolate and treat those that are ill with the flu.

This would have a major impact on our economy and for that reason I worry that TPTB wouldn't consider this aproach until the flu was too wide-spread for a work/school holiday to be effective.

When it is deemed safe to do so, schools and businesses could re-open, but a restriction on international flights and travel outside the U.S. would have to be put into effect until the flu pandemic is under control in other countries.

Would this work???

 

[DustMusher]

I don't know if it would work, but it seems to me that this is the ONLY chance we have. I know when I hear of an outbreak here in the states I will seriously think about resigning my position at the hospital. THAT is how seriouly I am taking this threat.

DM

 

[Deb Mc]

Mrs. P,

A few possible concerns:


1. Birds carry this flu and don't respect international borders.

2. I am concerned, but haven't found confirmation yet, about the H5N1 surviving in water for some periods of time. My concern is that international shipping might continue to bring infected water to our borders, infecting us and the birds/animals around us. (Ships use bilgewater for ballast. The occasionally dump said bilgewater, usually somewhere else across the globe.)

3. Many of the chemicals and supplies we used for meds, not to mention many of our daily used products, come from overseas. If we stop contact with overseas, we shut off the supply chain.


Fwiw...

 

[Mrs. Peavey]

Deb Mc brought up some excellent points.

Unfortunately, if the avian flu gets into our wild bird and domestic bird population, we're going to have to have some sort of bird slaughter to cull flocks of infected birds.

The last batch of baby chicks I ordered, I paid extra to have them vaccinated against those chicken diseases that are preventable. Hopefully, TPTB can come up with a vaccine to innoculate birds against the avian flu, so we can have some healthy poultry.

We'd have to have some sort of carefully screened international shipping in order to obtain the products we need. But business and leisure travel outside the U.S. would have to be restricted due to the possibility of carrying the avian flu back into the U.S.

The issue of the flu virus being present in the water is a real problem, and hopefully scientists can come up with some sort of viable plan to resolve it.