WILD WILD WORST: Bad Bird Story

Back in my days as a guest writer for the FLAT RABBIT PRESS, we were all unaware of impending disaster in the form of the Avian Flu. I have taken my story on that calamity that never happened and modified it slightly to fit today’s world.

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Here's a horrible take on a coming future human disaster that's bigger than the West Nile Virus and Katrina combined. The more I dig into it, the more scared and the madder I get, and I definitely am not an alarmist.

I had vaguely heard the terms "Bird Flu," "Avian Flu" and "Bird Flu Pandemic" before I recently heard Dr. Gary C. Ridenour from Fallon, Nevada say, on a current affairs program on Reno AM Radio Station KKOH, (known locally as KOH 780), that there are imminent dangers to public health from "Avian Flu." This disease is currently raging through parts of China, all of North Korea, and other parts of the Asian Continent. Plus, it's extremely deadly.

Yes, it started with birds and it adapted itself very quickly to the human species. It is highly contagious when first contracted by a human, but it displays no real symptoms until two weeks after one is infected. This means that you can contract and carry the disease and infect hundreds, even thousands of people before you get sick yourself. That factor makes it very difficult to screen carriers out at airports and, in turn, that means the disease can and will travel all over the world very quickly. Although, as of this writing, there have been no reported cases in the United States, in could be only a matter of days… weeks at the most… before we're in the "bird soup," so to speak.

The Federal Government is aware of this coming horror. The flue is already in Russia and heading into other major parts of Europe. Sadly, not only are the U.S. Government and the news media ignoring "Avian Flu" but, the preparations for combating it are almost non-existent. According to the August 29, 2005 issue of U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, this pandemic could infect 90 million Americans and kill more than 200,000. In fact, Dr. Ridenour reports that the fatality rate is running at 30% in Asia; that would tally to 30 million deaths in the United States alone!

Less than 2.5 millions doses of vaccine have been prepared, no more are in the pipeline, and it takes six months to produce. The Department of Health and Human Services has been working on a plan, not to be finished before the end of September 2005. With the coming health issues of the New Orleans area yet to be dealt with, the probability is that the bird flu plan will be pushed back into November or December.

This is tough stuff. Mass burials are inevitable. Hospitals will be unable to deal with the numbers of sick and dying. Those infected must and will be quarantined into their homes for a month or more. Food and other necessities of daily life will have to be delivered and few will want to risk the probability of infection by making such a delivery.

This story is not made up. I looked in the Internet and discovered that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is painfully aware of what's coming. There is a whole bunch of available information to document the warning being presented here. More information is available at a number of websites; just search for "Avian Flu."

Before killing you, this disease alters your physical appearance. Below is a picture of an individual in the final stages of the Bird Flu.