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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

clhw wrote:
> These sound a lot like the potential for a pandemic from H5N1.
> They can be caught by humans in close proximity to infected vectors like
> horses, pigs and bats.
>
> The bats part doesn't concern me .... much.... as long as our local bats
> aren't catching it.

Well, that was the thing.  I read on one article or another that several 
species of bats were the carriers, from the large flying foxes to the 
smaller genus of fruit bats.  I made the leap that if several species of 
bats could be carriers, then it might spread harmlessly through the bat 
populations, but that other mammals, like pigs and humans, might be 
susceptible.

> However, the swine reservoir is potential bad trouble. Most of you probably
> know that the genetics between humans and swine is close enought that
> viruses which mutate to affect hogs can become virulent for humans and a
> new mutation develop through the susceptibility. And humans do have a lot
> more contact with hogs than with fruit bats. Somehow, I didn't consider
> contact with horses to be very frequent in Malaysia.

I have already forgotten which virus it was, but it was also found in 
Australia where there are lots of horses...


> It would take several years for either of these viruses to develop into
> something which is being spread in humans. The high mortality rate reported
> in these two articles might fall with, as Lynda indicated, more medical
> support at an early point, and something like washing hands and disposible
> tissues and Lysol or clorox might prove fatal to the virus. Nothing
> mentioned on shelf-life outside the reservoirs, like, if someone sneezes
> onto the grocery cart I use, is there going to be live virus there 30
> minutes later?

Right.
That reminds me,,,,I heard on the radio the other night that H5N1 
survives freezing for 39 days, or something like that....scary stuff.



> Just like SARS and Ebola, these are viruses to be aware of, but not panic.

Exactly.  It just goes to the preponderance of evidence that you 
should 	WASH YOUR HANDS after contact with any animal, even your pets. 
You just never know...


> Lynn who is recuperating from a mild heart attack on 12/20, followed by
> by-pass surgery on 12/21.

Glad to see you up and about...

Bev
--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky