anyone else freaked out about the bird flu?

The fears are not of the virus in its current version, so don't be fooled by such a low number of infections at this point.  The fear is the possibility, which may or may not come to be, of a mutation in the virus that allows it to be spread from human to human like the regular flu virus.  People can dismiss it if they'd like, and they may end up being correct in doing so, but that's basically the way every major flu pandemic has occurred throughout history.  And it's not like we have great anti-viral drugs these days anyway.  In fact, the ones we do have don't seem to work against avian flu, and we've yet to make an effective vaccine against it.

People talk about the flu like it's no big thing, but it kills thousands of people in the US yearly and many more worldwide.  A more virulent strain that we've never seen before and is resistent to our drugs is potentially a disaster.

Or it may never happen.  Can't hurt to be prepared.

Remember, the Bird Flu is NOT a terminal disease.  Acquiring the Bird Flu doesn't mean you're going to die.   It may be a newer strain of flu that infects human more easily - as the human bodies are not used to this particular virus. 

The larger number of people getting sick, the larger number of people MAY die from it, making the NUMBERS look big.  But as DerekL said, the regular human flu kills LOTS of people in America and the general public may not even aware of it. 

It's the science behind the whole thing that makes scientists excited.  How the virus mutates, how people interact with animals due to the lack of boundaries (generations ago there are more space for animals to live in, now birds may build their nest on your roof), how diseases spread more readily due to human travelling and trading of animals/animal products etc.  THis provides lots of research opportunity, and with press helping to spread info more effectively, everything appears to be a big deal.

personally I'm not worried.  It's just like every other killer disease outbreak.  Remember SARS?  How about West Nile?  We see these huge outbreaks in asia and start freaking out... well factor in population density, sanitation standards, and regulation and you wonder how stuff lke this doesn't happen more often.  Even though West Nile is here in the states, the media only choses to talk about the people who get it and die.  Never mention that those people were suceptable to it in the first place and that a larger number of people get it and survive it.

Just look at Mad cow disease.  It's been ripping through Europe, but so far hasn't managed to come here.  People complain about the FDA all the time, and that we are too carefull, but when we reamain untouched by these new exotic diseases, I say that means something.

Without going into everything you said,  I'll just say that there's no comparison between any of the things you posted and the potential of this.

I'm not saying to live your life scared at all, but dismissing this as "just another SARS" is just wrong.

It may be considered a cliche of my username to bring this up, but what's the point of stressing about it anyway?  I am in no way being dismissive of its importance, but rather more people should consider their own importance in relationship to it.  Even if I believe that this is going to be the most disastrous thing to hit mankind since metrosexuals the plague, what exactly am I going to do about it?  This reminds me, in a distant way, of people who get worked up over a celebrity getting married or breaking up.  People act as if they have a vested interest for some reason.  (Sheryl Crow being back on the market does not fall into this category because, well, she's Sheryl Crow, jus sayin'). 

I don't want to sound like I'm advocating the "don't pay attention because it's not my problem" attitude.  I guess my point, if I have one, is that our reaction should be proportionate with our ability/responsibility to affect the situation.

Eh, in the 90s it was Ebola that was going to decimate the population.

If you want a real reason to be alarmed - AIDS has mutated into a killer virus. They call it killer AIDS because it skips the HIV stage and goes into full-blown AIDS, kills within ~ 6 months of infection. It is undetected because we are tested for the HIV antibodies; since it skips HIV people are getting the false sense that they are uninfected. They are HIV free, but not AIDS free.

Strangely, you hear very little about this in the news.

Now THAT was funny!

What is me worrying about this going to do? If we have a pandemic will it save me? Maybe I will get sick maybe I wont... Either way I plan to have a great time until I check out. If thats tomorrow nothing I can do to stop it...Why worry. However, I  DO think the WHO and CDC SHOULD worry about this thats their job and we pay a lot of tax dollars for them to worry about it.

Birds with the H5N1 strain were found in Italy and Greece. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4704046.stm

OH boy is that toooooooo funny!!!!!  Maybe I need to get that for my chickens.  LOL!

Diane