One flu over the...

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsTurkey has confirmed that a 13th Turkish is suffering from bird flu. Countries around the world are stocking up on Tamiflu, a bird flu vaccine, amid reports that the flu virus can mutate into a Tamiflu-resistant strain. An Indian company has acquired rights to produce Tamiflu. Basically, there's a worldwide war on bird flu. Or is it? To me it all looks like a virus that's spreading faster than one ever thought. No, not the flu virus, but the one that spreads panic.

A simple google News search gave 16,700 results for Bird flu in 0.25 seconds.

Here are some of them

Another Bird Flu case found in Turkey
Bird flu symptoms often mild, research suggests
Spread of bird flu wider than imagined
Dozens In Japan May Have Mild Bird Flu
Boy is China's 8th bird flu case
Russia bracing for bird flu outbreak
Top bank plans for bird flu hitting half its workforce
European travel firms monitor bird flu impact
Ukraine confirms new bird flu cases in Crimea

Now consider the death toll: Over 70 people across Asia since 2003. Waah!

Japanese encephalitis killed about 3,000 children in and around a town called Gorakhpur, in that period. I see no panic. That's the daily deathtoll in Iraq. Nobody's panicking. That's about a couple of massacres in India. Earthquakes and cyclones/tsunamis kill in tens of thousands now. Thousands die of AIDS in the world every day. If not bird flu, some virus else, but death will come in all shapes and sizes. And life will find a cure and bounce back.

It's nice to see awareness about an impending epidemic, but the panic endemic just flies over my head.

I am not a conspiracy theorist but this one smells like some pharma giants' way of creating a market for their products.

P.S. Pharma companies pay researchers to create panic. It's a fact of life. Pharma companies pay researchers to dismiss alternative medicine systems as faith-healing. Pharma companies are capable of creating a scare, so that morons start filling their medicine cabinets with some flu virus, that's as moronic.
first published:January 10, 2006, 23:46 ISTlast updated:January 10, 2006, 23:46 IST
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