HELP

O.K. now I am really freaking out !!!!!!!!Two of my friends  that dint even know each other have been calling me today ,the first one at 3:00 P.M telling me that he is on his way from FT.Lauderdale to Miami and he has seen a lot of dead crows in the turnpike !!! later at 5:30 P.M another person calls me from Coral Gables telling me the same thing !!!! I didn't pay too much attention at the first person but when I received the second call I freaked out , got the phone and called the department of health in Tallahassee , they gave me a phone # to call Monday for the Epidemiologist off.  I tell you guys the lady that answer the phone was very relax it was very strange !! I wonder what is going on!!!!!!!!!! What should I do ?

Step away from the ledge my friend.

It could be like the dead ducks in Council Bluffs that accidently ate the poison left out to kill the starlings that had taken over the town.

I hope the posts about the lack of birds in their area (untouched bird feeders etc) and the number of dead birds are natural seasonal events.

If these birds are dead from H5N1 you'll be glad you prepped and became informed, while the rest of the town goes bizzerkk. 

http://www.nbc6.net/news/7127274/detail.html

 

Pola here is an article on testing birds in South Florida, all test where neg.

Depending on the season crows can die from West Nile.

Pola,

Here in Sacramento we had a problem with West Nile virus over this past summer.  Dead birds were seemingly everywhere, and the virus was carried by mosquitos.  Amidst hue and cry from the environmental crowd, the decision was made to spray aerial incecticide over the entire metro area.  New infections ceased, birds even quit turning up in the street every morning, like night and day.

Plenty of things kill birds, it is the winter season after all when times are tough and food is sometimes scarce.  I don't think we have any BF in the states yet, although I really do wonder if we'd be told when and if.

Thank you guys for all your responses ,  I will call the epidemiologist off. on Monday , I will let you guys know what they tell me .

Seesthelight,  I'm so sorry to hear about your son.  How awful to lose a child, then not really know why, or get the run around from higher ups.  My condolences.  I'm no MD, but from all the research I've done, many of the S&S you report fit in with Bird Flu. The pneumonia found in BF has for the most part been VIRAL and Not bacterial. Here is an exerpt (SP) form a New England Journal Of Medicine. Link to the full article below.  I hope you can find some answers, again, I'm so sorry.

Clinical Course

Lower respiratory tract manifestations develop early in the course of illness and are usually found at presentation (Table 3). In one series, dyspnea developed a median of 5 days after the onset of illness (range, 1 to 16).¹⁵ Respiratory distress, tachypnea, and inspiratory crackles are common. Sputum production is variable and sometimes bloody. Almost all patients have clinically apparent pneumonia; radiographic changes include diffuse, multifocal, or patchy infiltrates; interstitial infiltrates; and segmental or lobular consolidation with air bronchograms. Radiographic abnormalities were present a median of 7 days after the onset of fever in one study (range, 3 to 17).¹⁵ In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, multifocal consolidation involving at least two zones was the most common abnormality among patients at the time of admission. Pleural effusions are uncommon. Limited microbiologic data indicate that this process is a primary viral pneumonia, usually without bacterial suprainfection at the time of hospitalization.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/13/1374?hits=20 &where=fulltext&andorexactfulltext=and&searchter m=Bird+Flu&sortspec=Score%2Bdesc%2BPUBDATE_SORTDATE%2Bde sc&excludeflag=TWEEK_element&searchid=1&FIRSTIND EX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

Progression to respiratory failure has been associated with diffuse, bilateral, ground-glass infiltrates and manifestations of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In Thailand,¹⁵ the median time from the onset of illness to ARDS was 6 days (range, 4 to 13). Multiorgan failure with signs of renal dysfunction and sometimes cardiac compromise, including cardiac dilatation and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, has been common.^14,15,16,24 Other complications have included ventilator-associated pneumonia, pulmonary hemorrhage, pneumothorax, pancytopenia, Reye's syndrome, and sepsis syndrome without documented bacteremia.

Mortality