End of March
First a bit of personal business:
My "Day Job" is still in crisis mode as the newly hired Head Accountant decided six hours before he was due to show that he had changed his mind and would not be joining us after all. At this point in time we have no replacement candidate(s) so we are back to square one.
I am also facing yet another Month-end cycle where I will be performing the functions of three people so Journey will remain more dormant than not until such time as I either quit myself or we get that elusive replacement.
In a Reuters interview microbiologist Dr. Yi Guan of the University of Hong Kong, a highly respected and a leading expert in Avian Influenza, gave his long held assessment that diligent surveillance and rapid containment can prevent avian influenzas from gaining sustained human-to-human (H2H) transmission.
Reuters Tan Ee Lyn
[snip]
Guan, who studied the H5N1 bird flu virus after it showed up in people in Hong Kong in 1997 and has tracked its footprints all over the world ever since, is convinced that the world can stop the bug in its tracks if it has enough resolve.
"If proper surveillance is in place for animals and humans, yes, we can stop pandemic influenza forever. Not just for H5N1, it may also work for other subtypes of viruses," he said in an interview over the weekend.
"We have the ability to remove pandemics if we have a long-term strategy."
Guan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, knows just how backbreaking and mundane surveillance work can be.
Reading the interview the phrase "In a perfect world" came to mind. Many things are "possible" but that doesn't make them necessarily something humanity can, in reality, accomplish.
Given that H5N1 is endemic in many countries, with many of them not known for their effective or efficient governance, surveillance and containment is something currently only theoretically possible.
But the theoretically possible has been accomplished before. Given dedication, audacity, and funding we have gone to the moon and eradicated Small Pox. Two things never previously accomplished and thought impossible by many. By reminding us that we have the potential to keep the lid on pandemics perhaps Dr. Guan will inspire greater effort and greater cooperation.
One can always hope.
SZ
Comments