Thursday 19 January 2006

Bird flu immunity

Beethoven Pleydenwald from the Whinging in New Zealand blog (WINZ) has been keeping an eye on H5N1 bird flu hysteria. Despite it's imminence -- it's all around us you know -- he's noted one surefire way to gain immunity:
Still no H5N1 deaths amongst attractive young women who have performed fellatio on me. There is still time for those of you who want similar protection to contact me. Or you can stop french kissing chickens, the choice is yours.
He's also very, very happy at news that the US Senate is "raising money for bird flu."
Thank god for that. Unless we put vast resources behind the problem of H5N1, it will never evolve into the virulent human transmissible form everyone is hoping for. I hope 4 billion is enough.
You have to laugh. For the real oil on bird flu, skip the headline news and head for the Avian Flu blog. It offers the headlines, true, but without all the accompanying hysteria. Meanwhile, the Otago District Health Board's Dr Malcolm McPherson "has criticised the news media for hyping-up the threat of bird flu":

Dr Macpherson says in reality there is no evidence that bird flu spreads between people and he says it is very difficult to catch from birds. He says a worldwide pandemic is unlikely and, at worst, many years away. Dr Macpherson says the news media is pumping up the shock-horror story; public health experts are relishing their hour in the spotlight; and the drug industry is peddling its products.

As Lindsay Mitchell has noted, McPherson's is a rare voice of reason.

Links: When the Brain Eating Zombies Attack - WINZ
US Senate Raising Money for Bird Flu- WINZ
Nearly $4 Billion OK'd for Bird Flu - WebMD
Avian Flu blog
Criticism for hyping up bird flu - McPherson

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