New pandemic-potential flu found in China 😳

[BabyLlamaZen]

BBC News - Flu virus with 'pandemic potential' found in China
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53218704

I have no idea why you're so invested in this argument Iced since it wasn't you saying the plague originated in China.

Why does that matter? Why is it relevant?

*I have no idea why you're so invested in this argument Iced since it wasn't you saying the plague originated in China.

Why does that matter? Why is it relevant?*

I'm not sure how providing a link - at your request - equals being 'invested' in an argument (whatever that means) but I'll let that slide.

And why is it relevant? Well, you clearly thought it was relevant since you asked someone to provide a link with the information. Although you could have done your own research.

I think that researcher is trying to ger a bit of self promotion with that headline.

@IcedPurple

I worked in China for 8 years and spent quite a lot of time travelling through rural areas. Bats are really not that "often" consumed by poor peasants as you think. In fact, I've never come across a Chinese restaurant that served bats.

"According to some sources bat meat was never sold in the market,[28][29][30] and it has been reported that the bats are not a common food source in the city of Wuhan.[31][32][33] Some media outlets, including Daily Mail and RT, promoted a video that showed a young Chinese woman eating a bat and suggested it was shot in Wuhan, but later it was confirmed that the footage was filmed by travel vlogger Wang Mengyun in the island country of Palau in 2016, to showcase local cuisine.[24][33]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_as_food

I worked in China for 8 years and spent quite a lot of time travelling through rural areas. Bats are really not that "often" consumed by poor peasants as you think. In fact, I've never come across a Chinese restaurant that served bats

I never said bats were served in restaurants. The type of people who need to eat bats for protein couldn't afford restaurants. Read the work of virologist Peter Daszak about how many poor Chinese people, especially in the south, eat bats - often going to caves to hunt them themselves - as a source of protein.

@IcedPurple lived in a rural Chinese village in yunnan for a week in my teens as I was volunteering...no toilets, hole in the ground for pooing, had to brush teeth using bottled water. It was on a mountain. The food was very bland and actually not much meat, only chicken.they slaughtered a chicken in our honour and it was very skinny not much flesh. We ate with the local people and there wasn't exotic meats at all.

Also 1 thing to remember was that from 1600s to 1911, china was ruled by the Manchus who were a nomadic tribe and ate a lot of game as a result. Manchus absorbed a lot of Han culture but they still retained a lot of their cultural practices esp eating of game i.e. Manchu Han Imperial Feast. But eating wild game isn't mainstream in china.

2020 is a literal dumpster fire!

This has sent my panic attacks through the roof.
It was swine flu that almost killed my baby in 2010.
Six weeks on life support in an induced coma. He had to be brought back to life twice.
He has a disability already so it was a miracle he survived.
This news scares me beyond belief.

This isn't new. It's been around at least 2 years already, maybe as many as 9. People have already been infected by it, yet there are no reports of death or serious illness as a result. Alright, it could mutate in future - so could any other disease. Nothing about this story is "news".

Indeed. As the article says "In theory, a flu pandemic could occur at any time, but they are still rare events."

This isn't new 'news'. It's the way the world has always been. However, disease transmission is currently very topical, so news outlets are exploiting people's anxiety with shameless click-bait headlines, as well as exploiting people's knee-jerk panic response and tendency to read non-analytically.

Big hugs @Annierose293 x

[quote ThisShitDontMatter]@MrsTerryPratchett

I think China are taking the piss and its not because I dont get the whole factor of how big the population is, or anything as such but the fact they caused SARS, Covid and now possibly this? It doesnt stay in China either, it comes here and causes a shit house! When do we say enough is enough with it? And by that I mean ceasing much to do with them, till such times they stop their pandemics! People have a go at anti vaxxers for this reason! I know why because we will then be accused of racism. Yes we had mad cow disease but did we make the whole world ill with it? And then again and again with something else? Sometimes I think there really is a darker side and its about world domination! Also I get mad at ourselves, why do we need CHINA to make masks for our PPE? Why do we not make our own PPE to deal with the shit caused by them!? Its like getting attacked, then offering that attacker tea and biscuits afterwards!

Sorry for any grammar mistakes... funnily enough I am just off nightshift from a COVID ward.[/quote]
"Yes we had mad cow disease but did we make the whole world ill with it?" we spread it to France, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Canada I think, but you can check if there were more.

And we caused it not by bad luck, but by disgusting practises which we knew were risky.

"why do we need CHINA to make masks for our PPE?" because they work for cheap and we like cheap. Which may be one reason poorer people there are eating bats.

It's certainly click-bait, but we should be thinking and planning ahead for the next one. Whether that is next year or in 2100. We need less crowding, we need to get away from 'Just in time' ordering - especially essentials and medical items. We need more working from home.

We need plans for different scenarios on shelves in hospitals and local authorities so next time we're ready and not running around in panic.