Thursday, September 27, 2007

Bird Flu in Canada?

So far, no one's talking, but the CBC is reporting that a chicken farm north of Regina, Saskatchewan, has been completely sealed off, and that officials are going so far as to wash the tires of vehicles coming from the farm: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/09/27/chicken-farm.html.

I've been watching the Bird Flu talk over the last few years, and have wondered when the virus, which had not been detected in North America, would finally get here. This may be it, and let's face facts. Our society is nowhere near ready to handle the panic and economic dislocation that would come with a flu pandemic, and the Bird Flu so far has proven (in those cases where humans have come down with the disease) to a fatal illness more than half the time.

I'd really like to know what plans our local, state and federal governments have in place to deal with the next pandemic. All I know is that every year, there seems to be a shortage of flu vaccines. If that's the case now, what will it be like in the event of a major epidemic?

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