Flu pandemic

It now seems "inevitable" that there will be a flu pandemic, probably starting in Asia if the bird form mutates with the humane form. GPs are also being given information packs, as detailed in this article.

The last thing I want this thread to do is create panic, but this is now more than a Daily Mail story, with predictions it could kill 50,000 in the UK alone. So the government would obviously want to reassure the public, and prevent a panic.

In events such as this, does the government have the ability to not necessarily take over television and radio, but enforce broadcasts of insurance, and advise. I'm sure we would expect to see special news programmes about this in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the broadcasters cover this, giving the facts, but without causing chaos and panic, in a Fox-news-esque kinda way...

Notice the big 'if'.

Ah, that's all right then, so long as it's the human e form, we'll be okay.

Typo, Nick.

Well thats ITV News screwed then. Having seen some of their reports in the past we're all going to die of cancer, become massively obese or, the new favourite, if we take one step inside of a hospital we'll catch MRSA and die of that too!

Makes it funnier, though, doesn't it?

Bird flu hasn't yet mutated into a form that can be transmitted from human to human, despite several years of watching and many attempts to produce such an event in laboratories.

I'm not saying it's never going to happen (if you look at epidemiological cycle patterns we're probably due another massive pandemic), but the use of the term "inevitable" implies some time very soon.

Talking to microbiologists, immunologists and virologists, they're actually sh!t-scared of HIV mutating into a form stable in mosquito saliva (something which is theoretically possible)- i.e. people could become HIV+ from getting mosquito bites. Using an evolutionary argument, this is probably also "inevitable", but equally not immediately probable.

I'm more concerned about those giant mosquitos which have invaded southern England.

Well, they've already reached Cardiff, because I've seen three of them in my flat so far!

They're about an inch long and have striped abdomens. They also carry a whole host of diseases such as dengue fever.

I think chat about the implications of bird flu are best left to Metropol.

TV has been reporting this on and off but does not doesn't warrant a thread as no-one is going out big style to cover it.

Not wishing to sound all high and mighty, but can we keep threads ABOUT the news to a minimum? I'm more than happy (and have created them myself) about a story when a news channel breaks a story and the coverage they give about that.

But discussions how a channel MIGHT cover a story is best left to the production and editorial teams in charge of the channels - we'll just discuss the presentation and coverage IF and WHEN it happens.