UU Bird Flu discussion
The birdflu@muusja.org mailing list is an Internet discussion of how
Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations and individuals can better
prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic. (See Bird Flu issue summary)
The discussion was originated by people at First Unitarian Society of
Minneapolis January 2006.

For more information contact:
Bill Weir - (convener) by email: weirwilliam [at] msn.com
or 952-285-1272

To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the Birdflu Archives.

To get birdflu mailings and participate in this discussion (at no cost), subscribe
to the Birdflu list by filling out the forms at the Birdflu Info page .

For assistance with subscribing etc,
contact list manager: Fred Olson fholson [at] cohousing.org

We ask that all contributions stay on topic:
How can our UU congregations, our UUA (association of congregations),
and our Districts, each help itself, its members and its wider community
become better able to reduce the toll of the next pandemic and survive
as well as we are able.

The list and this web page are hosted by the The Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance






Bird Flu issue summary Nov 2006
The World Health Organization (WHO), the US Center for Disease Control
(CDC) and many other health science organizations and epidemiologists
are telling us that the new strain of influenza A known as "H5N1" is
expected to create the next pandemic, comparable to the one that took a
huge toll starting in 1918.  The World Bank now predicts the pandemic
will cut into the world economy by $1-to-$2 trillion.  Some stockpiling
may be advisable !!!

The H5N1 flu virus is:

o now endemic among some flocks of migratory birds,

o spreading to free ranging domestic birds such as chickens, geese and
  ducks, in some parts of the world, not yet to the US, and probably never
  to commercial poultry in the US

o already spreading from birds to humans, through direct contact and
  bird droppings

o killing 56% of the people known to have fallen ill from it (73% of
  those age 10-19), according to the analysis of all known cases,
  published in WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Report 6/30/06,ou

o already shown to have spread from person to person to person in one
  Indonesian village

o likely to develop a more efficient capacity to spread quickly from
  person to person

o likely to be carried by an exposed person for 48-72 hours before
  symptoms develop

o likely to be transmitted in several ways, especially through exhaled
  droplets, through uncovered coughing and sneezing, through hand-shaking
  and other direct contact, through public rest room exit door handles and
  other indirect contact, and even through bird droppings and human feces

o likely to be destroyed on objects by sufficient heat such as in a
  microwave oven

o likely to be restrained from spreading from cell to cell in a host
  (human) through use of prescribed anti-viral medicines, such as Tamiflu

o not likely to be prevented by any available vaccine for at least the
  first six months of the pandemic

-- Bill Weir, DB (Meadville and U of Chicago), MHA (U of Mn)
(a former UU minister, later in healthcare administration, now semi-retired)
o Chair of the Committee on Emergency Preparedness at FUS in Minneapolis
o Member of Public Information Campaign Advisory Committee created by
  the Mn Dept. of Health and Dept. of Public Safety - Homeland Security
  Emergency Preparedness
o Participant in the Mn Pandemic Summit (10/06)