Tuesday, June 13, 2006

H5N1 joke compliments of Tina

During my many conversations about H5N1 on the internet a person called Tina shared this joke with me. I am sure that whilst there are many jokes around about H5N1, the resulting panic from a pandemic in any unprepared country will be no laughing matter.

A bear, a lion and a chicken meet.

The Bear says: "If I roar in the forest, the entire forest is shivering with fear."

The Lion says: "If I roar in the jungle, the entire jungle is afraid of me."

Then the Chicken says: "Big deal. I only have to cough, and the entire planet sh*ts itself."

H5N1 a few months on

It has been a few months since my last post but it appears H5N1, like myself, has taken things a bit easier after it arrived on the European scene in a big way. H5N1 continues to grow and establish itself slowly and silently throughout the areas of africa, europe and asia.

In England we had a minor scare when a swan turned up in Scotland with H5N1. The swan appeared to be a visitor from outside of UK so the scare quickly passed when no other incidents were found.

In Indonesia there is talk of human to human transmission on a limited scale. Indonesia is one of the most heavily populated areas in the world where there is no centralisation and life is basic across a thousand or more islands.

In Hungary some wonder drug against H5N1 is proving to be a hoax according to some people. Not that I will give any credit to any claims of a vaccine as the H5N1 human version of the virus has yet to emerge.

Ukraine appears to be the latest country to fall to the H5N1 world tour.

WHO continues to hold onto their secret database of genetic data on the virus. One can only speculate that drug company financial interests directs the WHO's decision to keep their database secret.

Our heros in Recombinomics have picked up some slight variations in the H5N1 virus which makes it more easier to pass onto humans.

There probably will be no more significant events in relation to H5N1 until the birds begin their mass movements again. In the meantime H5N1 will continue its relentless spread across the globe and more humans will die.