March 27, 2006
Bird, Nested in Triangles
Here's the latest bird flu summary from Revere, the esteemed, necessairily anonymous, epidemiologist over at Effect Measure.
AND there is the tiniest bit of good news which isn't included in Revere's update. Two studies have found that " the H5N1 virus prefers to settle in cells deep within the lungs, rather than in the upper respiratory tract, as happens with human flu strains.
That's important because 'most of the coughing and sneezing that transmits flu is going to be from the upper respiratory tract, and not way down in the lower respiratory tract,'explained Dr. Arnold S. Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. 'So, unless you have relatively close contact, you're not going to have much [bird flu] virus get out.' "
I. personally, am chosing to be heartened by this news. It is spring, after all.
Photo note: All of us here at Dakota do so love a triangle.
Posted by Dakota at March 27, 2006 08:46 PM