H5N2 Bird Flu

According to the CDC in Atlanta, there are over 30,000 different strains of "Type 1 Viruses" or what are also known as, "Bird Flu," viruses, circulating around the world today.  Each has been identified and given a designation based upon it's own unique and distinct surface protein structure involving two particular, identifiable proteins which all of such viruses have.  Thus in a laboratory, it is easy to track each of these viruses wherever and whenever they appear.

Most important for us to know and understand is that these viruses infect almost exclusively birds. That's why they are called "Bird Flu."  So while a chicken, duck, turkey or your parakeet may catch a cold from one of the 30,000 plus known "Bird Viruses," the chances of your bird dying of such a cold are less than 2 percent.

The chances of that virus mutating so as to infect the dog, your cat or you are so small that it is hardly worth considering, one-in-quadrillions of a chance is far, far to generous an estimate. Outside of highly sophisticated bio-warfare labs, it just doesn't happen that has ever been documented.  Further, of the 30,000 such viruses that have been identified so far, if your parakeet were to contract one, it would be very rare indeed if it were to produce so much as a sneeze in your bird so you might notice.

So, what is producing the headlines about chickens and turkeys on a few of the thousands of poultry farms in the American Mid-West being infected with the, "H5N2 bird virus?"

These birds aren't even being killed by the virus but are being killed by farmers on orders from their government.  Millions of birds and eggs are being destroyed, (it's called, "culling,") to give the impression of some sort of a legitimate health crisis among domestic poultry flocks when oversupply lowering prices and thus profits is the real problem.  About 6% of chickens, turkeys and their eggs have been destroyed so far.  This has served o reduce the market supply of chicken, turkeys and eggs at your local wholesaler and will translate forward into a few-cent rise in the cost of a pound of chicken or turkey and several dozens of eggs.

Skillfully done, but that's about all, aside from the manipulation of the futures markets in poultry and eggs.

So if you have a knee-jerk reaction to hearing the words, "bird flu," you need to understand that with over 30,000 bird flues, most undetectable outside a bio-weapons lab or the CDC and 99% of those,being harmless to even parakeets, the wrong body part is probably twitching.  As usual, you are about to get hit tn that body part near where you keep your wallet.