Earlier quoted context omitted.
So we can also fly? Sign me up!
And echolocation! Time to form a queue.
> Teach Yourself to Echolocate
A beginner’s guide to navigating with sound.
Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
21–30 of 161 posts
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
During the 20th century the American government (as well as others) put a lot of effort into finding ways to control people. Drugs, control of the media, MK Ultra and Mockingbird are just two examples of many. Everything more or less failed. Dosing unsuspecting civilians with LSD doesn't have much useful effect. But one thing worked, and they should have known it all along. Fear. If you can make people afraid, you ca…
“They want us to fear birds” is wild man
Good thing birds aren’t real.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#23There is a vaccine though. https://news.sky.com/story/uk-prepares-five-million-vaccine-...
That's a vaccine for one strain: H5N1. I'm sure birds have many more strains and variants of virus. I'm sure a proper virologist can dive in here ... I think people assume that a fever is caused by an infection but my understanding is that a fever is a response to the infection. The body raises its temperature deliberately to destroy a viral infection, even though it is unpleasant, as well as deploying the other defe…
Everyone pops a Tylenol/advil when they get a fever. Can’t be that bad.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#24[flagged]
Why we keep killing the birds that survive the infection is beyond me. It's an evolutionary pressure that we refuse to allow to work. It's almost as if we want to give the flu as many opportunities as possible to spill over, instead of just letting the birds who have immunity survive and thus basically drive the virus to extinction.
Because it's cheaper to fill the whole farm with foam and suffocate all the birds to death, then shovel them out.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#25[flagged]
It’s like this with most animals that we have learned to live with in close proximity. Zoonotic viruses are responsible for many of our diseases today, but through natural selection we are adapted to many. This is partly why European disease wiped out Native American populations to a large extent. Europeans carrying diseases from animals they lived closely with.
But it's not (just) about us living in close proximity to them, it's about putting them in an environment that makes it impossible for them to live healthy lives and incubates potential zoonotic diseases.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why we keep killing the birds that survive the infection is beyond me. It's an evolutionary pressure that we refuse to allow to work. It's almost as if we want to give the flu as many opportunities as possible to spill over, instead of just letting the birds who have immunity survive and thus basically drive the virus to extinction.
> Why we keep killing the birds that survive the infection is beyond me We don’t know the reservoir capabilities of novel viruses, nor can we confidently rule when a previously-sick bird is well and non-infectious at scale. > It's an evolutionary pressure that we refuse to allow to work We’re selecting against birds that get infected in the first place. (Probably to no tangible effect. But the goal isn’t to have bird…
Thanks for the response! I agree that it's not obvious the reservoir possibilities.
I don't agree that we're selecting against birds that get infected in the first place, or at least I don't think that's how it works. My understanding is that if any birds on a farm get sick, the whole house is killed. Maybe the whole farm.
To me that seems like selecting for lucky birds not selecting for populations that never get sick because lots of populations never get exposed.
I could be wrong on my understanding or how I interpret the impact, though, so I'm super open to learning more.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s like this with most animals that we have learned to live with in close proximity. Zoonotic viruses are responsible for many of our diseases today, but through natural selection we are adapted to many. This is partly why European disease wiped out Native American populations to a large extent. Europeans carrying diseases from animals they lived closely with.
But it's not (just) about us living in close proximity to them, it's about putting them in an environment that makes it impossible for them to live healthy lives and incubates potential zoonotic diseases.
Which has been happening for centuries.
I’m actually not arguing against this being a bad idea though lol, just giving some historic trivia.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
But it's not (just) about us living in close proximity to them, it's about putting them in an environment that makes it impossible for them to live healthy lives and incubates potential zoonotic diseases.
Which has been happening for centuries. I’m actually not arguing against this being a bad idea though lol, just giving some historic trivia.
We have not been factory farming for centuries. More like a century. And it hasn't been a century with a sterling track record! I think we can all recall an event in recent memory where having a lot of animals in close proximity and unhealthy conditions went super duper wrong. And we have problems with new strains of bird flu every couple of years.
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#29[flagged]
It’s like this with most animals that we have learned to live with in close proximity. Zoonotic viruses are responsible for many of our diseases today, but through natural selection we are adapted to many. This is partly why European disease wiped out Native American populations to a large extent. Europeans carrying diseases from animals they lived closely with.
Living in close proximity is one thing, but growing them at the speed and scale which we do with factory farming must massively increase the rate of development of viruses. It’s almost as if we designed a special program just to develop a virus that would wipe us all out.
But hey, cheap food!
Re: Bird flu viruses are resistant to fever, making them a major threat to humans
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s like this with most animals that we have learned to live with in close proximity. Zoonotic viruses are responsible for many of our diseases today, but through natural selection we are adapted to many. This is partly why European disease wiped out Native American populations to a large extent. Europeans carrying diseases from animals they lived closely with.
Living in close proximity is one thing, but growing them at the speed and scale which we do with factory farming must massively increase the rate of development of viruses. It’s almost as if we designed a special program just to develop a virus that would wipe us all out. But hey, cheap food!
Not even cheap food, just cheap meat. We could still have plenty of cheap, salty, fatty food without the livestock.