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Corvallis, OR, United States
My personal obsession with prion diseases with smidges of music I like and rescue dog advocacy from a disabled Oregonian.

3.24.2005



Song in my head:
Where have all the flowers gone......long time passing......................Pete Seeger


NATURE'S PHINEST

Have you ever seen a walking octopus, how about a running vampire bat? I expect some weird dreams tonite after watching those short clips..............(via boingboing)

Nature provides us with some great entertainment. Unless it's a microscopic piece of protein waiting to mutate and cause widespread world illness......It's just a matter of time in a world environmentally out of balance....Are we prepared for a pandemic? One public health expert says "Give Me A Fucking Break (GMAFB)". Infectious Diseases Society of America gives us fair warning....... -LINK-

Immediate action is needed to prepare the United States for a deadly pandemic of influenza, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is telling policymakers.

In meetings with congressional and administration leaders, IDSA has explained that the H5N1 “bird flu” spreading in Asia has the potential to develop into a pandemic like the one that claimed more than half a million American lives in 1918. Even if this strain does not emerge as a pandemic, infectious disease experts agree that another flu pandemic is just around the corner. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts even a “mild” pandemic could kill at least 100,000 people if the nation is not prepared.

“This year's serious problems with flu vaccine supply showed us just how unprepared we are,” says Andrew T. Pavia, chair of IDSA's Pandemic Influenza Task Force. “If this had been a pandemic year, we would have been in serious trouble. Now is the time to fix these problems and develop the ability to respond, before the pandemic strikes.”