From Deseret News archives:
Fears about bird flu fly in the face of reason
What may not have sunk in, amid all the hype, is that the best weapon against avian flu, or any other flu, for that matter, is simple, thorough hand washing, coupled with little polite gestures like blowing your nose in a tissue or not coughing on people.
I was curious about what bird flu message people are getting, given the amount of attention paid to H5N1. So I asked a few people what they knew or thought they knew.
It was amazingly unscientific, a few short conversations over the course of several days. I talked to a clerk at the grocery store, visited with a couple with whom I shared a table in a food court over lunch, chatted up a few parents at my kids' school and day care center, brought it briefly into conversations with friends.
I have the advantage of several in-depth conversations with local and national health experts and I've read everything I can find on the topic (from reputable sources), since covering bird flu is part of my job. Still, I was really surprised by some of the things I heard during my "survey."
One mixed bird flu and West Nile virus. Several thought it passes easily from person to person. That one stunned me. Everything I've seen on the topic talks about the potential for bird flu to become a pandemic as in, if it were to happen in the future. The virus would have to change so that it easily transmits person to person. Officials agree that a pandemic of some sort will happen; history and the nature of Nature itself says they occur on occasion. The hype surrounds bird flu because it seems possible it could mutate enough to become people-passable. But it certainly hasn't happened yet and may not.
I'm not trying to diminish the concerns. Elected officials including the president believe the potential is serious enough that they're putting a lot of money into trying to develop a good vaccine.
Comments
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