Why you should give a hey about Birdflu...

It is overwhelming that certain people could have so much convincing power over a large group of audience. Oprah Winfrey is as good an epitome as any of that rare breed. Everything she features on her show, her magazine, and even her bookclub instantly becomes phenomenal. She is popular not only in the US but in almost every household that has privilege to the viewership of her long running television program. That despite satires done by SNL.

The entire week last week, a preview of a prime time weekend episode of Oprah is repetitively shown at Star World and it covers the seemingly bah topic of Birdflu. Albeit boring, it was her reaction on what her guest speaker had shared that made me anticipate its airing. Something to the tune of, "what you just shared gave a whole new light to my idea of avian flu," and also something that if I recall correctly seems to make the topic a cause for serious worldwide concern.

I watched it for my much needed inner peace. The episode title itself has a hint of impending gloom being Bird Flu: The Untold Story. Expert on infectious disease Dr. Michael Osterholm guests. He discussed that humans are currently not able to pass the birdflu virus yet onto other humans. The frightening thing is when the strain mutates. It is said that the disease could spread over key cities across continents and all over the world in a matter of days.

[The following is fiction and is in no way connected with the Oprah program] Let's just say an infected person goes in a mall. He enters a jam-packed public comfort room and fights the urge to sneeze but lost. The airborne virus escapes the carrier at the speed of 100Mph possibly infecting every one in the room. He goes out of the john, fishes out his wallet and goes to the nearby ATM. He, again, sneezes, cursing the blasted air conditioning unit in the LRT for not working full blast in time for the afternoon rush hour. Tiny specks of saliva splatter the screen and the keys of the machine. He takes a side glance while descriptly wiping the screen with the back of his long sleeved shirt. He takes his cash and goes his merry way leaving a long line behind him for the ATM. Already becoming light headed with several sneeze episodes. He makes a mental note to drop by the pharmacy after he grabs a quick bite at McDonalds. Just his luck, he thought, only one person before his turn comes at the takeout counter and the girl in front of him sure is cute. If only his sinuses could cooperate and stop being a pain just this one moment. Too late. He lets out another heartfelt sneeze. 97Mph this time. Now, the pharmacy. Sh*t, is it elderly-person's-trun-to-fill-in-the-first-aid-cabinet day or what? Either that or they opened a Veteran's Bank branch near by. So many elderly people buying stuff. Gotta excuse himself. Feeling more light headed than ever. Gotta get home soon. After a couple of minutes, he dashes for the MRT. Crowded. Shit. Gotta squeeze himself in or get stranded. His choice. He went for the squeeze. And out went the sneeze. 37 people all within 5 feet from him. Another 148 to well over 15 feet from him. Not counting those in the mall, the comfort room, the ATM, McDonalds, the pharmacy, the counter clerks, the LRT, and that sampaguita vendor at Taft. All possibly infected now. He didn't even have a clue. Not until the next day. The outbreak was described in the news as spreading exponentially all over. All around the world.

The show aims to educate. A wakeup call, if you may, to leaders of nations to be on their toes because this is some serious shit. It is one thing to be aware of your opponent before the start of a battle even if you know for a fact that your chance of winning is marginally slim. Who knows, with a head start and collective effort, the pandemic may really really hopefully never ever happen. Let us just pray it doesn't.

I provide here a link to Oprah's site that has the full article on the subject. Spread the news to your friends and loved ones.

posted by Fritz @ 6:02 AM