The Lone Elm

News on Avian Flu and Blogs

This morning NPR had a report on the avian flu outbreak and deaths in Turkey.  See also the article at the Washington Post.  At PolicyByBlog, David Perlmutter discusses how badly mainstream media are missing the boat on reporting the bird flu in Turkey.  (Perlmutter's blog is only a couple of months old and definitely looks to be worth tracking. See recommendation at Rantingprofs.)  Perlmutter describes what he has been able to learn through blogs - specifically, that the bird flu is occuring in the Kurdish part of Turkey, an area that is rural, poor and uninformed.  And, it appears that the Turkish government is not disposed towards an aggressive effort to address the problem. 

Avian Flu Discussion on NPR

This morning there was an excellent report on avian flu on NPR, highlighting the issues of how you communicate the risks to the public so that they are properly prepared.  Read it!

Latest on Avian Flu

Hugh Hewitt refers us to a long article in USA Today regarding the extensive preparations some people are making in anticipation of a pandemic.  I don't think I am quite ready to go out and buy a gun or pistol yet, but I do think our pantry is well stocked...

Here is the federal government's website.  This Avian Flu blog seems to be a good resource on up-to-date happenings.  The Washington Post website has a nice Focus on Bird Flu section. 

Avian Flu Insurance

According to Simon World, a Chinese company is offering insurance for bird flu - about $12 for a pay-out of about $25,000 for a one year term.  It appears that the insurance company considers the probability to be pretty low. Thanks for the reference from Marginal Revolution.

Avian Flu Update

The avian flu is approaching Europe, and government attention is finally getting more focussed.  There is considerable disagreement about the nature of the threat and what ought to be done.  In the last day there have been several thoughtful articles relating to the strategy for dealing with Avian Flu.  A Washington Post piece by Wendy Orent suggests that a quarantine is not the way to go and would not work.   In the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Henry Miller discusses options for  having  some type of immunization available to combat the flu, rather than just relying on the slow process currently used to develop immunization products, which would end up being far too late to help.  Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution (an economics blog) suggests that there may be some role for government involvement and guarantees to ensure an adequate supply of Tamiflu.