Some of you may know that I first wrote about Avian or Bird Flu in May 2005. Since then, it has spread to more countries, with the most recent being the continent of Africa, where Nigeria, Turkey, and Romania have all reported deaths in recent weeks.
I've also said before that I think two of the best things anyone can do to help themselves are to make sure their immune system is working as well as possible and to pray. Using your immune system as a defence against the virus is the first thing, and praying is the second.
You can go to one of my websites and use the products I sell to help your immune system, or you can go somewhere else. What's important is that you do something.
Medical supply companies say that the number of sales of surgical masks has gone up by about 500% in the past few years. Please don't think that they will help you. Surgeons and nurses wear surgical masks to protect the patient from getting sick from the germs they breathe out, not to protect themselves from getting sick from the patient.
Masks could actually help the flu spread because when a mask gets wet from breathing, it stops protecting the person who is wearing it from breathing in the germs.
If you touch your mask with your fingers, you could spread the virus by turning doorknobs, touching your own nose or mouth, or shaking hands with other people.
Masks that filter out germs are usually big and bulky, and they cost a lot of money. They also have to have a very tight seal around your nose and mouth, so they are not 100 percent safe.
There are currently drugs like Tamiflu that might help if you already have the flu, but there is no vaccine to keep you from getting it. This is because a vaccine can't be made until the virus changes, which hasn't happened yet, thank goodness.
If the virus changes, it will be taken away and sent quickly to one of the three laboratories around the world that the United Nations and the World Health Organization use to make vaccines to fight, stop, and get rid of pandemics. Most of the time, these three labs are used every year to make the anti-flu vaccine that is used all over the world. The vaccine is then sent to different manufacturers to be made in large quantities.
You should be getting the idea that if this virus becomes a pandemic, maybe hundreds of thousands of people will die. Right now, it's only spreading from birds to people and from people to birds, not from person to person. Hopes are that the virus won't change, but some scientists think that the question is not whether it will change, but when.
Europe is very worried, and the governments of countries that are close to or border Turkey are taking many steps to stop the disease from spreading. The problem is, how do you stop birds from flying over the border? Birds don't know anything about passports, visas, or borders.
There is no doubt that Bird Flu is spreading. It started in Asia and moved to neighbouring countries by jumping from bird to bird, killing a few people everywhere it went. I'm sure it won't stop in Turkey; that would be very naive. Instead, it will move to neighbouring countries, where a lot of farm animals, like chickens, will have to be killed, driving up the price of chicken and eggs.
I'll say it again: the most important things to do are make sure your immune system works well and say a prayer.
