PANIC

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tcward
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PANIC

Postby tcward » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:47 am

This BBC News headline made me think this would make a good GWotD:

Panic hits Turkey bird flu town

And of course I can't hear the word panic without thinking of that great image from the Hitchhiker's Guide:

Image

Info from etymonline.com:
panic (1)
"mass terror," 1603, as an adj. (with fear, terror, etc.), from Fr. panique (15c.), from Gk. panikon, lit. "pertaining to Pan," in sense of "panic, fright" short for panikon deima, from neut. of Panikos "of Pan," the god of woods and fields who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. As a noun, first recorded 1708. Meaning "widespread apprehension about financial matters" is first recorded 1757. The verb is 1827, from the noun. Panicky is first recorded 1869. Panic button in fig. sense is first recorded 1955, the literal sense apparently is from parachuting.
-Tim
Last edited by tcward on Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Apoclima
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Postby Apoclima » Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:52 pm

I agree with Tim. The effects of panic is often worse than the original threat.

Is this Avian flu 100% fatal to birds? Why not keep alive those that survive it and breed a variety of bird that is resistant to this flu?
Until 2003, theCDC had estimated 20,000 deaths per yearUntil 2003, the , but in a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, of which Thompson was the lead author, researchers concluded that flu-related deaths had increased during the 1980s and 1990s to between 17,000 and 51,000 deaths annually, an average of 36,000.
I don't think it is time to panic yet; there are far far more deaths from regular flus than from this Avian Flu that has not even changed over to human to human contagion yet.

Apo
'Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.' -Max Planck

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:53 pm

Deimos is one of the two moons of Mars.
In Greek mythology, Deimos is one of the sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus); "deimos" is Greek for "panic".
The other moon is Phobos.
In Greek mythology, Phobos is one of the sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus). "phobos" is Greek for "fear" (the root of "phobia").
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sun Jan 08, 2006 10:06 pm

Avian flu--and the panic surounding it reminds me of Robin Williams' joke, "I'm just goin' to go clean the chicken coop, Daddy!"
-gailr

Spiff
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Postby Spiff » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:42 am

Why not keep alive those that survive it and breed a variety of bird that is resistant to this flu?
Apo
That's a surprisingly darwinistic view to come from you, isn't it, Sitran? (Mind if I call you Sitran? I like the sound of that name better.)
Spaceman Spiff

"The capacity for humankind to centralize its importance in the grand scheme of things is quite impressive."
- Tim Ward

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:44 pm

I suspect that the birds would not pass on their immunity to this particular strain to their offspring. With luck they might pass on the genes for an enhanced immune system that could develop the proper antibodies, but from what I understand viruses, especially flu (and cold) viruses, mutate frequently, so a really robust immune system would be needed to combat mutant strains. I'm sure it would take many generations of selective breeding to produce such a bird.

A better approach would be development of a vaccine, but it's hard enough to produce the millions of doses needed for humans, let alone what must be the tens or hundreds of millions needed for domestic fowl.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:06 am

diseases seem to thrive with chickens; geese and ducks don't have any inherent diseases. But Chickens are dirty creatures whose bodies seem to invite bugs that cross to other species easily. Someone should trest the water fowl for why they have such lovely immune systems.

Kt

tcward
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Postby tcward » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:42 am

But isn't it the water fowl who are spreading this virus? Isn't that how it has moved now from east Asia to Turkey?

And isn't it ironic that Turkey was the first non-Asian country to report the disease? ;)

-Tim

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Postby KatyBr » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:20 am

[img]http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/images/avian.jpg[/url]
All the news broadcasts I hear and the news stories say poultry, that is chickens not water fowl. I saw one story that mentions wild birds and turkeys even ducks, OC turkeys get every disease that comes down the pike, but I'm surprised to see ducks even mentioned because when I raised the little beggers they were hardier than cats. A broken leg and dog bite wound healed up by itself. Mostly I see references to chickens, regular old barnyard birds, many of which are kept in people's homes where the bird flu flourishes, and oc wild birds carry it.
I've never seen a sick waterfowl, but I haven't seen them all.

Kt
I did see where water fowl are hosts, but they themselves don't 'catch' it.

tcward
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Postby tcward » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:38 pm

Oh, I see what you mean now. But actually a report I heard on the news a couple months ago specifically mentioned geese.

Well... If this keeps up, we'll see!

-Tim


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