Avian Flu / Bird Flu

I was in a Microbiology class this morning at the University of Manitoba, the largest University in both the city of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba.

The Instructor works only part-time at the University and is a full-time researcher at Health Canada. His research is focused on viruses.

After the introduction to the class he spent a fair portion of time on the much-publicized Bird Flu/Avian Flu. He spoke of how deadly the flu would be and related it to the 1918 Influenza epidemic which "killed 2/3 of the earth's population within 4 weeks". He informed us that the Bird Flu is of equal danger and would result in a casualty of over 240,000 people in Winnipeg alone. (Winnipeg is a city of around 650,000)

Needless to say, a large number of the students were more a bit worried.

After the lecture was over, I approached the instructor and asked him about the power of the virus against a strong immune system. His response? "A strong immune system is the only thing that can kill this virus". (I knew that ahead of time, that's why I asked)

A strong immune system? If a strong immune system is the "only thing" that can kill it, WHY IN THE WORLD IS THERE SUCH A PANIC TO GET A VACCINE??? WHY NOT SHUFFLE SOME OF THAT MONEY SPENT ON CONTINGENCY PLANS INTO EDUCATING PEOPLE ON HOW TO BUILD A STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM???

The answer, of course, is that the drug companies can't patent and sell healthy immune function. Sad, isn't it?