Is anyone nervous about Bird Flu.....??

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I am VERY MUCH worried! Next to our garden, there is a huge natural pond; Evey year there are hundreds of wild ducks there. Yesterday I saw the last ones leave, flying in "V" formation. They always fly south for the Winter. But they come back next Spring..... , I hope they don't bring this birdflu with them

[Rachel]

Yes, I am. Seems like there is a new location added every day to the list of countries where it has been detected. I never even thought about the wild birds being infected, but that certainly could be the case. I was more worried about the food supply since poultry is my main source of protein.

In Illinois, and specifically in my county and even my city, there have been cases of West Nile Virus. It has made me aware that one can't assume that these illnesses won't touch us because they started somewhere else.

[moosmom]

As for being worried, I guess I'm too old and it'll probably be quicker and less painful than hanging on for years with chronic arthritis

G535,

ROFLMAO!!! I feel the same way you do. Remember years ago when they had the "swine flu"??? People RUSHED out to get the vaccine. Where did THAT go???

The media has a bad habit of setting panic in motion with some of their stories. Their take on things makes people want to live in germ-free bubbles. Most of the time I just have a "wait and see" attitude. This is one of them, since I don't have birds and my cats never go outside.

[carole]

Well I can only hope it is scaremongering, but the NZ government is preparing itself as best it can, I think we are more concerned with the pandemic than the bird flue as our risk is very low for that, but still one cannot be too complacent IMO.

The media says it is not trying to panic people but prepare them, well I cannot say I am panicked but I do feel rather scared about it all,as it is going to be the very young, old and those with illness that will be affected most as always with all viruses.

People have been buying up large surgical masks in my City ,infact the pharmacy's have run out and some are trying to get the pills Tamiflue, which is not a cure but is supposed to help people from actually dying from it, so I guess a lot of people are taking it very seriously here it appears.

I do keep in mind though ,that often this happens and we all come out of it right in the end, like the Sars epidemic, people got worried about that here too and their was media hype and we never got it to my knowledge.

I think the pandemic is more of a threat to the world myself,if it really does happen NZ will close its borders down completely,as I am sure other countries will too, imagine the chaos it will cause, they reckon it will be way worse than a natural disaster like an earthquake.

I am glad some of you feel positive about it and are not worried like me, because half the time these things never come to anything much and you save yourself alot of un-necessary worry, signed Carole AKA as worry wart bigtime. P.S Gosh Kim I was shocked to hear you have never even heard of it,like here in NZ it is in the paper everyday almost, large articles about both, and on the TV all the time, amazing.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Nope! If I get it, I get it and if I don't, I don't. Frankly I think the whole issue is being used to take our minds off other things.....

[prechrswife]

I am, and I have to admit it is for selfish reasons. China has announced that if there is a human-to-human transfer that they will close their borders. This could delay our adoption plans. This happened when SARS came through several years ago. However, as someone pointed out, SARS was human-to-human from the beginning. There have, to this point, been no cases of human-to-human transmission with the bird flu.