Pandemic Update from Erich

Now that a global pandemic has been officially declared by the World Health Organization, I know you are wondering how our birdf flu correspondent, Erich Simon, see it. Here’s his latest — as always, not for the squeamish:

It just keeps getting better, Rick, and anybody not moving aggressively to the short side is not seeing the picture.

Yes, the H1N1 virus is on a crash course with HP H5N1, a recipe for the end of civilization. But just now it was announced (out of the UK… a country obsessed with Pandemic realities and preparing now for “millions” of upcoming cases, making prophylactics like school closures a moot point), it was just announced that surprise, the H1N1 virus, which mixes readily with other viruses, is going to mix with SEASONAL INFLUENZA strains when the flu season opens in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, if not sooner down south. It is a near given.

And this presents an entirely new dimension to the scenario. Because the H1N1 virus is going to ‘re-assort’ with any of myriad seasonal strains, a large percentage of which will only serve to increase virulence and casualty count, not to mention the increased affinity for efficient transmission. In fact, the Brisbane strain… out of Australia, was included in last year’s emergency overhaul of seasonal flu vaccine because it is a particularly nasty bug capable of killing millions and millions if that one mates with the Phase 6 H1N1.

Mexico Just ‘First Wave’

And it only gets better still. On a lesser note, but itself a new revelation straight outta the mouth of Margaret Chan… what Mexico experienced here a coupla months ago was only The First Wave of the now official Pandemic of 2009. The preamble. According to her, The Second Wave is on its way and will be arriving shortly, and per my understanding of second waves in Pandemics, those are the ones that hit the hardest.

So The First Wave closed Mexico City and nearly closed the border. What’s the next wave gonna do…?

 The viral fireworks are only getting started across so many fronts now that the dominoes are gonna go tumbling in all directions with increased case fatality numbers already baked into the cake, replay of 1918 or not… with untold reassortment possibilities ranging from millions dead, reminiscent of the ’57 and ’68 Pandemics, to tens and tens of millions dead, reminiscent of the 1918 Pandemic… and right on up to the worst case… an H1N1-HP H5N1 combo, with numbers dead in the 99% category across regions of the planet.

Vaccine? Forget It

And the stock market is not going to crash…? How’s that gonna work, with more money printing? The printing presses are on respite as rates regurgitate from all the economic water boarding. And it won’t matter anyhow. When all the inflation cracks start seeing their friends dropping dead from who knows which strain of which recombinant… forget the vaccine, there won’t be enough working labs to test all of the dead people to even begin to assemble the seed antigen needed to get any vaccines into production…, but there certainly won’t be anyone going in to man the presses. At least not any of THEM.

No, the Wall Street and Washington organized crime family will be running for their lives, throwing money outta their helicopters just to clear a path to escape.

Meanwhile, my Pharmacist sister with Express Scripts was just informed by her union that wages are being cut and jobs are being transferred to Chinese nationals working out of Ohio. More on that later. But the message seems to be ‘take the pay cut or get fired’.

So the band plays on…

E.