There be bird flu here

The first Cambodian victim of bird flu in 2007 was a 13 year old girl who died yesterday. She was the seventh fatality from the H5N1 virus that seems to be taking its toll on South East Asia.

According to WHO bird flu has killed at least 170 people since it began ravaging Asia in 2003, according to the WHO. To counter the threat WHO simulated the pandemic.

As of mid-morning, four out of five people infected with the virus in the mock scenario were dead, and WHO Cambodia personnel were in the field conducting an investigation, said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional adviser for communicable disease, surveillance and response.

Officials were rushing to send influenza drug Tamiflu and protective gear, like goggles and masks, from a Japan-donated stockpile in Singapore to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. At least 24,000 Tamiflu courses were needed, and the WHO Manila office could only send 3,000 courses. It asked for the rest to be flown from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' stockpile in Singapore.

Preparation is helpful of course. When the crisis comes, we'll all be more prepared. We have been at advised to have six weeks of food and water at home in case we have to wait it out. But that is a lot of food and water and virtually no one has observed the guidelines. When bird flu mutates and becomes transmissible from human to human, what then? Do you lock yourself up and hoard your food and water like a miser while your friends and landlords become increasingly desperate? Or do you share knowing that there isn't enough for everyone. I think about these things and think that I will share but in the meantime, I nag, so the choice won't have to be made. Plus I hope we get evac'ed instead.