Potential Bird Flu Pandemic

Marketing Protection from a Potential Bird Flu Pandemic

A popular saying is that it 'is an ill wind that blows nobody good.' This means that even something as dire as the looking threat of a bird flu pandemic has the ability to increase demand for manufactures of a vaccine -- or in this case, a facemask that when used in combination with duct tape provides limited protection against catching the dreaded bird flu.

The threat if a bird flue pandemic cannot be minimized. It is not simply paranoid individuals who fear the flu -- news sources such as CNN and the BBC warn of an outbreak. "Bird flu has swept through poultry and wild birds in Asia since 2003. It has killed huge numbers of birds and led to more than 60 human deaths," reported the BBC. ("Bird Flu Could Kill 150 Million People," 2005) The flu is very easily spread where birds gather together. The virus can spread cross from wild birds arriving from Asia to domestic swans, geese, ducks and hens, causing the virus to mutate as it spreads from different types of birds. ("Romanian Villages Tackle Bird Flu," 2005) Even the American Center for Disease Control admits, "There is still a lot to learn about how different subtypes and strains of avian influenza virus might affect humans. For example, it is not known how the distinction between low pathogenic and highly pathogenic strains might impact the health risk to humans." (CDC Website, 2004)

But why market a mask that only imperfectly protects against the flu? Wouldn't people prefer to using a vaccine that is 100% effective? Unfortunately, no such vaccine exits, the CDC admits. "Currently, four different influenza antiviral drugs (amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir, and zanamivir) are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of influenza; three are approved for prophylaxis. All four have activity against influenza A viruses. However, sometimes influenza strains can become resistant to these drugs, and therefore the drugs may not always be effective." (CDC Website, 2005) The avian virus has already mutated, as is evidenced by cases of bird to human contact, a rarity in disease.

This is one reason that a mask, even if not perfectly effective, would have potential to protect human health. Even drugs are not perfectly effective in the case of the flu. Also, use of a mask would not increase drug resistance. Already, "analyses of some of the 2004 H5N1 viruses isolated from poultry and humans in Asia have shown that the viruses are resistant to two of the medications (amantadine and rimantadine). Monitoring of avian influenza A viruses for resistance to influenza antiviral medications is ongoing." (CDC, 2005) As the virus spreads to humans, the risk of mutation and drug-resistant strains increase. "

The worry is that if the two flu viruses cohabitate in the same person they will exchange genetic information and produce an influenza strain totally new to humans that can be passed from person to person." (Newswise, 2005) At present all transmissions have been from bird to human not human to human, but that could change -- the avian flu has confounded expert after expert. (CNN, 2005)