We're in for another epidemic. You probably don't want to hear that; we've had enough with bluetongue, foot-and-mouth and bird flu in animals. We're only just beginning to calm down as the bird flu threat to humans apparently recedes, but mad cow disease seems only yesterday and our hospitals are cesspits of MRSA and C.difficile. Haven't we had enough? And how can I be so sure that we're due for more?
Friday, November 16, 2007
A new plague: The epidemic is coming
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2 comments:
The funny thing about foot-and-mouth disease is that it USED to be called "hoof-and-mouth" disease. Then some commedian started jokingly referring to "foot-IN-mouth" disease, so that now, even the official designation for the real thing is "foot-AND-mouth disease." True fact....
Unfortunately, "bird flu" isn't over. It's spreading across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The virus continues to mutate, and we are seeing some cases of human-to-human transmission although it does not appear that this is happening widely.
One of the reasons is that Indonesia is giving out Tamiflu to all contacts of patients who have H5N1.
The virus may mutate to become resistant to Tamiflu. We will also run out of Tamiflu. Neither would be good.
--starlight
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