Word: flu
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...David Heymann has one of the most important jobs in medicine: coordinating international preparations for a possible virus outbreak that could threaten millions of lives. That job got much harder on Feb. 7, when Indonesia announced it had stopped sharing with the WHO the samples of H5N1 avian-flu virus it had isolated. Simultaneously, Jakarta announced an agreement with U.S. drug company Baxter International, which will develop a vaccine from the strains and give Indonesia technical assistance in manufacturing it. For 50 years, the WHO has received free influenza-virus samples from around the world, which it makes available...
...Still, Heymann concedes, the Indonesians have a point. This nation of 245 million has suffered more fatalities from bird flu than any other country, with its 63rd victim dying Jan. 19. Yet, if a pandemic does arise, Indonesia might well be one of the last in line to receive a vaccine: most of the world's limited production capacity is already spoken for by wealthier nations. A recent article in the British medical journal the Lancet predicted that if the next pandemic were to be as deadly as the 1918 flu, 96% of its estimated 62 million victims would come...
Watching “Bird Flu,” the latest video from ineffable refugee-turned-pop-star, M.I.A., is a disorienting experience that leaves the viewer reeling and wondering when biological terrorism got to be so trendy. Named for its lethal drumbeat and infectious lyrics, the video for “Bird Flu” sends the native Sri Lankan back to her roots for a low-budget production that could double as the M.I.A edition of MTV’s ‘Cribs.’ While prancing in a tie-dyed shirt and policeman?...
...morning on Jan. 8, three Austin policemen on patrol downtown found the dead birds feet up on Congress Avenue, the city's busy main boulevard. With ever-present concerns about bird flu and terrorism, HAZMAT teams, the fire and police departments, the county health department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Texas National Guard's rapid response team and even the FBI were quickly on scene as the city closed off downtown...
...Given bird flu fears and pure aesthetics, no one wants to see flocks of shiny black birds stiff on the sidewalk. But weakened birds will continue to die when temperatures dip and, if they land on a busy downtown boulevard, even in a city like Austin where bird lovers abound, they will spark yet another debate in the war on grackles that is being waged across the country and the methods being used to curb the grackle population. In order to discourage roosting, city administrators in Tempe, Ariz., tried lathering their downtown trees with a concord grape coating that made...