the possibility of avain flu is really scaring me.
when SARS hit, mc, seb and i stayed in hong kong. we didn’t go overboard, but we practised caution and stayed smart. i don’t normally overreact about disease, etc, i am comfortable with the belief that no matter how crazy it seems, God is in control. but for some reason, this bird flu is really pricking at me, and i am uncertain and uneasy. have been ever since tamiflu became impossible to get.
i just feel that if bird flu reaches its full potential, it is going to be devastating, and not only will there be health issues, but there is going to be safety. of course there will be rioting and looting. this certainty frightens me.
it has been a creepy week all around, if the flat is crazy when just one kid is confined to these four walls, what is it going to be like, what am i going to be like, when no one can go outside? we’re going to have to seriously consider converting our living room into a giant playroom.
i hate feeling like this, and the feelings haven’t stopped. yet. it just gets creepier. i wish someone would just tell me i am overreacting, but so far no one has. "you don’t have tamiflu?" is a more frequent comment.
no, we don’t. and i am uneasy, and i hate being this way. and avian flu is so tricky, it dies down, we don’t hear anything for weeks on end, and then it pops up again, slightly mutated again.
am i overreacting? is anyone else slightly freaked out about bird flu?
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5 Replies to “paranoia”
NO you are not overreacting!!!! They managed to keep SARS a secret for years in China and it wasn’t a “Big deal” until it hit HOng Kong…. I’d freak out too!!! Its a serious thing… I am meaning to encourage you…you have every reason to be concerned!! xo lyns
Tess, you are voicing the same concerns I have…and we at least have some mountians as a barrier from migrating flocks. Or at least this was my reassurance when West Nile virus was a concern. I think so long as you plan ahead – just like we have on the west coast for the “big one” and slapped together our Earthquake kit. So just start thinking of what you might need (ie: shopping list, phone contact list, activity lists, preventative measures list, etc) for when the possibility leans towards reality. Make lists. I love lists. Lists for me are mini-contracts and pseudo-organized control tactics, even for the uncontrollable. You will feel prepared and it will provide (I hope) a tiny bit of piece of mind. I know it will happen, I know I have no control over where or when but like every other virus scare/fear/reality (ie: small pox, Aids-HIV, measles) that have happended through the ages, education and preparedness are strong tools in your belt. Very thought-provoking topic you!
i’m not freaked out. then again, i don’t live in HK, the expected ground zero.
generally people tend to try to come up with worst case scenarios because it helps plan and it helps mobilize the masses into action. this does not mean that the worst case scenario will come to pass, it will just get the most press.
viruses that tend to do lots of damage will either attenuate over time or pass quickly. a virus that wipes out it’s host can’t perpetuate itself, and that’s bad for the virus as well as the host. we honestly don’t know what the virus will be like when/if it ever becomes human transmissable. it has to mutate to do that. in the process it may also become much less virulent.
it’s okay to plan, but i don’t think there is a reason to panic. stay away from crowds if you must. get your flu shots. and remember that most people who get the flu are only miserable for a few days and then they get well.
I wish I knew what to say… : (
I’m with knobody. I’m not completely unworried about the possibility of birdflu — certainly it’s a horrible possibility, and the worst case scenarios are frightening — but scare scenarios are often used to get governments etc. mobilized for preparation. I can remember a lot of scare talk about swine flu about 20-25 years ago, and that never materialized. This may or may not either.
So far, it hasn’t mutated enough to be transmitted between humans and it may change or weaken at that point — a virus whose host dies too quickly is greatly disadvantaged, to be blunt. As for comparisons with the 1918-1919 pandemic, one of my friends pointed out that trenches — where people and animals were all dying together — of course allowed the virus to mutate quite rapidly and cover several “generations” extremely quickly. A lot of the conditions that allowed it to mutate and spread have been eliminated by modern hygiene.
I’m not totally ignoring it all — I live in Asia and work for a company that’s already drawing up contingency plans — but I think we still have to wait and see a bit. Plan for the worst and hope for the best, be concerned but not panicked…that seems the best thing to do.
As for things feeling creepy, you’ve been dealing with two children in hospital and a lot of worries recently. Methinks you probably need to treat yourself to something special!