Friday, February 24, 2006

see chicken run

The H5N1 virus strikes again, and right here where I live. Just barely 3 kilometres from where I'm staying, they've designated it as the zone. But if you notice in the papers when they first reported it, there's a picture of these masked bio people and some chickens in the foreground with the caption that indicates that it is a 'suspected bird flu' scenario. When you read the papers inside it is 'confirmed'. This makes you really wonder why there are conflicting reports on one paper because there's a vast difference between suspected and confirmed. I guess its they have contracted the Bill Clinton disease, because you need to define what really *is* bird flu. Perhaps when people start dying, then it becomes a big issue.

In the meantime I applaud the over-reactive people of Malaysia, willingly giving up their chickens to be terminated. I think that's a big plus. And of course our change of diets. We have in a split second changed our eating habits for more beef, fish, and anything else that doesn't resemble chicken. But you do realize that mad cow and mercury poisoning are issues as well. What happens when we don't have anything else to eat?

Of course over-reaction comes with a price. Tamiflu sales are soaring, and pharmacies are stocking up on it just like when there was the haze and they stocked up on the surgical masks. Everyone wants to make a fast buck out of an epidemic. But Tamiflu doesn't work, especially with viruses, they're a little trickier. By the time a vaccine is commercially available the virus has already mutated, rendering your Tamiflu ineffective. But we still sell it, give you a smile, ask you to get well soon, and hope for the best.

As for now, at least in the event I run over any chickens with my truck I won't feel half as bad, those virus-spreading bastards.