mojo city bird flu

It's a 50% kill-rate
overall ...
but 9 out of 10 kids
under 15 have died
in Thailand.

a consideration of the coming disaster, by Cody Barstow, Ph.D., (and fence rider for the Barstow Ranch)

Bird Flu.

Here is the statistic that should scare us all to death.

"The case fatality rate was 89 percent among those younger than 15 years of age in Thailand."

That's basically 9 out of 10 kids killed.

I'm not the only one struck by the inordinate number of young people killed by the Bird Flu ... no one over the age of 58 as of early 2005.

This is in complete contrast to the traditional flu which tends to kill those over 58 or so, and infants.

Killing the young and healthy was a trait of the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed up to 50 million people. Probably more. And that was when when we had one-quarter the number of people on this planet. Bringing those stats current would suggest a 200 million death toll. And the Spanish Flu was a weak sister compared to the Bird Flu.

Certainly, kids are possibly in a more active role with infected poultry in terms of Bird Flu exposure. But to see this huge a preponderance of the young in the overall makeup of the ill and killed is shocking.

Look at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3429547.stm
This is a rundown on those who were killed by the BF through 20 Feb., 2004. Some important age and gender information here.
Look at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9828617/

for the full article on the deaths of the kids. It reads, in part:

"Children at risk
Out of 41 confirmed cases examined in the article [which doesn’t include all of them] from outbreaks in 2004-05, the ages of those infected ranged from 2 to 58. In Thailand and Cambodia, researchers calculated the median age of those infected: age 14 in Thailand and 22 in Cambodia. For the Vietnam outbreak in 2004, they calculated an average age of 14.

The researchers also noted that recent infections have caused “high rates of death among infants and young children. The case fatality rate was 89 percent among those younger than 15 years of age in Thailand.” "

Yes, this is what happened in Thailand, not the U.S. And the numbers may have changed a little over the past several months. But those numbers are frightening.

Give yourself a couple minutes to consider this, even if it becomes a lesser percent death rate for kids. Basically, everyone we adults build for ... gone. No one to leave a better world to. No hopes, dreams, smiles, comfort given and shared.

And if you can't get behind that emotional part of it, think about the economy. Destroyed. Because there will be no one to sell anything to, design toys for, hold schools open for, clothe, and all of it.

All of it. Gone with them.

The true lost generation.

***

Taking Direct Action

How we beat this thing.

9 out of 10 infected kids in Thailand died from Bird Flu.

Is using the 50% kill-rate irresponsible fear-mongering?

What else can be done?