Apr
27
H5N1, H7 influenza viruses
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So the United Kingdom wakes up to another bird flu story – this time a commercial flock of 35,000 chickens is found to be infected with an H7 variant of avian influenza. Suddenly these “H” and “N” letters take on a significance that very few of us realised six months ago. Even with my scientific [...]
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26
I am beginning to wonder if avian flu is predominantly a disease that affects asian countries. We read today that Hungary is removing its bird flu restrictions as no new cases have been found. Scotland, too, no longer has any avian flu restrictions, and the small outbreaks in France and Germany seem to have been [...]
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25
Infodemic not a pandemic
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I was reading an interesting interview with Michael Cherkasky, Chief Executive of Marsh & McLennan, in the Daily Telegraph. Marsh & Mclennan are the worlds large insurance brokers so Michael Cherkasky is accustomed to evaluating risk. He feels that there is a strong chance that there will be an influenza pandemic at some stage, but [...]
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24
Wolf Creek
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About: Young tourists become the victims of a homicidal maniac in the Australian outback. For: Well directed, well acted, superb photography of the Australian outback. You identify with the characters and are horrified by their fate. Make’s you think twice about a road trip across Australia – I bet the Oz tourist board are not [...]
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24
Economic threat – bird flu or oil prices?
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A barrel of crude oil hit an all time high of $72.20 last week, and it’s price is set to go higher. In the UK, we can already see the effect of these record oil prices – a gallon of petrol is now about 97p per litre (note not a gallon!). It won’t be long [...]
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20
Well done Roche
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The news about bird flu has been a bit depressing today. Indionesia has suffered its 24th death from the disease and avian flu marches forever onwards through the Asian countries – Pakistan is the latest country to report its presence in commercial poultry. On the other hand we hear that Roche have donated 3 million [...]
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19
Exorcism of Emily Rose
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About: A teenage girl is possessed with evil spirits – or is she mentally ill? A court drama with a difference. For: Well acted court drama with harrowing exorcism scences keep you involved and tense throughout. Your opinions sway from the supernatural to mental illnesss and back again as the drama unfolds. One to remember [...]
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19
Well its seems that according to some European pension fund chiefs that not only would a flu pandemic prove to be immensely damaging economically, it may actually reduce the burden on pension funds, as elderly members succumb to the disease! The article then goes on to say that other problems for pension funds may ensue [...]
Read More >>Apr
14
If you’ve been worrying about the possible parallels between the current H5N1 bird flu outbreaks and the “Spanish flu” pandemic of 1918, then I recommend that you read this article. The author presents a clear argument to state that the conditions in 1918, at the end of that dreadful war are hugely different from the [...]
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13
No news is good news
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I notice that the volume of news about bird flu has reduced over the last few days. Although it might be the run up to Easter that is causing this, I rather think that we are in a lull phase at the moment. The bird flu scare in the UK has subsided – avian flu [...]
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