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Avian Flu

The subject I chose is the avian flu.  Not only is it recently and constantly in the news.  There are also countless resources available regarding its origins and spread. 

Avian Flu has been a dominant news topic over the past few years.  Particularly the H5N1 strain which is confirmed to have transmitted from bird to human.  What is most feared is that the strain can mutate into something similar to the 1918 flu which infected 20% of the world’s population and killed 30-40 million people.  The flu known as “Spanish Flu” is said to be very similar to the H5N1 strain we are seeing today.  In more recent history there have been numerous confirmed cases of the H5N1 strain of this virus in human population.  Though the virus has yet to be confirmed as having been transmitted from person to person, it transmits readily from fowl to human in close contact with infected animals.  Because this virus is carried by birds, it can literally be carried anywhere in the world.  More recent episodes have occurred in China, Vietnam, Iraq and even as far as British Columbia.

This is a case of “Contagious Diffusion.”  We also see very unique ways in which cultures are responding to the virus.  In most cases governing bodies have ordered the culling of infected birds.  It is the response to this that I found interesting.  In Turkey, some subsistence farmers have been resistant to the culling of birds, while other people living in urban areas have complained the culling isn’t happening fast enough.  Governing bodies from around the world have gathered together and given more than 2 billion dollars to fight outbreaks.  The backlash from the pandemic is having adverse effects on the economy as well.  Despite statements from the WHO that cooking the chickens would eliminate the virus, people have stopped buying chicken.

"People have started getting afraid of eating chicken," a Rangoon resident said today. He added that the price of a chicken dropped from more than 1,000 kyat (US $1.13) to 450 kyat in recent days, but most people still balk at buying poultry. 

In conclusion, the avian flu could potentially reach anywhere in the world.  In the case that it began transmitting from human to human, no country would be safe from it.  However, areas that would suffer the most are those places where antiviral medications are not so readily available.  I could even make the leap of saying that culture (meaning the complex of medicine in the modern world) may separate the survivors from the casualties.

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