The great tuna rush of 2006

Thanks to the reader who sent the link to this ABC News story: Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America.

In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.

Ready or not, here it comes.

It is being spread much faster than first predicted from one wild flock of birds to another, an airborne delivery system that no government can stop.

"There's no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said.

U.S. spy satellites are tracking the infected flocks, which started in Asia and are now heading north to Siberia and Alaska, where they will soon mingle with flocks from the North American flyways.

Well, it's exciting, but I wonder a little about "tracking the infected flocks"—how do they know they're infected?

Comments

[Jane]

The complete report from HHS is at
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/panflu20060313.pdf

(Sorry, I don't know how to do the tiny URL thing!)

[Nancy]

ABC is actually doing pandemic preparedness/H5N1 coverage on air all week long on both Good Morning America and Nightline. I must say, today's intro wasn't half bad considering it is most American's first brush with the topic.

Also, speaking of The Great Tuna Rush of 2006, I was just at Target picking up some odds and ends and noticed an "all hands on deck" urgency in the grocery section. Clerks were breaking down the contents of several aisles and stocking the shelves with bottled water. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

It will be interesting to see if the ABC coverage gets people talking at the water coolers.

[Mary Anne]

Like, the birds didn't migrate last March? Does anyone really think that the virus isn't already here? What about all the waterfoul landing in drinking water reservoirs. I haven't heard anything about the affects of chlorine on the virus.

[Sean]

Tracking the infected flocks???
This is the Bush administration, right???
I bet they are just tracking the swans. They only care about white
birds. No crows or ducks need apply. Look what happened with Katrina. Oh, wait. More whites than blacks died there. Nevermind.

[Mary]

I am disappointed he suggested Tuna. He should know better.
We may all develop mercury poisoning. Pregnant Moms please be careful, mercury in Tuna can be dangerous to unborn babies. It is a neurotoxin. See Healthcare without Harm website.

[Phil]

Mary: get sardines then, much lower mercury levels. For that matter, you could get canned chicken - no virus worries in canned food.

Mary Anne: No I don't believe that H5N1 is in the Western Hemisphere yet. However, I think that it definitely will be in the lower 48 US states by next Fall when the birds come back south.