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Happy Birthday to Us...5 Years.
I never thought ahead to this day. I never envisioned that we would still be online. Honestly.....I do not know what I was thinking.
I thought this would be a nice hobby type project for my spare time. I was really surprised when 4 scientists from the National Institutes of Health joined in the first week.
One by one the "bird flu forum" leaders added their names to our list that first week: Binkerbear, GaudiaRay, HenryN, Laidback Al, Mellie, ModTech, Oric, Sally, Sharpe, SophieZoe, Theresa42, Viamede, Vibrant62, and Zkurmus. Some did not post right away. Others spent hours each day loading the site with the most pertinent data that they could find.
There were a wide array of "bird flu" sites. Some other new sites started that Spring were Plan for Pandemic and Avian Flu Diary. Effect Measure, H5N1 Blog, CE Flu Clinic, Flu Wiki had been created the year before. None of us knew each other but Flu Wiki was very generous in helping FT by letting us post much of their information with a credit back to them. Revere also joined FT to lend his support.
We had a chat room and it was a lot of fun to go in there and chat with various members. I remember Treyfish talking about his "preps". Jeremy would entertain everyone by flashing a link to a news story with the question "Guys - do you think THIS is bird flu?". Sally was always quiet in chat when there was a group of us in there. A quiet giant taking it all in.
We also had many problems. We were the focus of a vicious internet campaign to prevent the site from taking off. I received ha te and sex ual email. We were bashed from one end of the internet to the other for our policy of no violence talk. Also, we insisted that everyone behave on the site as if they were in our living room. We moderated the site to be sure that these basic tenets were followed.
As bizarre as it sounds now, these positions were, at the time, not accepted practice on the internet and we were heavily criticized and hazed for it. The internet was a much wilder place then. No one "had their blog" like they do today. Defamation was widespread. If a member of a site was banned, it was customary for that site to host a banning thread to further humiliate the member who was not allowed to respond. No wonder most people stayed off the discussion forums. Those that participated used pseudonyms. Melanie Mattson of Flu Wiki was unique in using her real name in 2005.
No professionals joined discussion forums. We had a few. So did Flu Wiki. But this was very unusual. Twitter and Facebook were years away. Flip phones were new and none of them took pictures.
At about the 10th week we had a choice. Go the route of most forums of the day and engage in various bashings, violence talk - or widen our scope with the inclusion of more languages, and diseases. We had a split on the site. Jeremy and I decided to widen the scope and to pursue creating an emotionally safe place on the internet. A place where compassion and dignity were more important than who got the last word or who was "right".
We made a lot of mistakes. We did not always "get it". There were no manuals on how to "crowd source". In fact, that term was not coined yet.
We had no idea what we were doing but our decisions were always based by asking the question: "What will help the most people?"
With our new start we greatly expanded the site in May of 2006. We added the French forum and German forums and opened the emerging disease and scientific library forums. Besides Flu Wiki there was no other place on the internet that was assembling a free and open collection of scientific material devoted to H5N1.
Also joining our team in the Spring and Summer of 2006 were: AlaskaDenise, Anne, Blue, BroncoBill, Canagica, Dark Horse, Eladdie, Thornton, Colormyquilt, Commonground, Corn, Curious, Daisy, Dutchy, e_amigeri, FluBossie, Fredness, Frenchiegirl, Gsgs, GhostRN, Gänseerpel, Hawkeye, KBD, JetStubby, JJackson, KC, Kent Nickell, Legadillo, Lili, LMonty, Lyro, Mamabird, MHSC, Michael Coston, Mingus, Nancy, Niko, Okieman, Oldman, Pamwv41, Peterpan, Prebdeb, Pfwag, Quiplash, Ruthbeme, Science Teacher, Shannon, Siam, Snicklefritz, Steveosteen, and St. Michael, Toaster2, Unpathedhaunt.
The site expanded to include more languages and diseases. It was impossible to thoroughly discuss bird flu without understanding dengue, tuberculosis, congo hemorrhagic fever, ARDS/SARS, yellow fever and others.
We incorporated as a Non Profit corporation in the state of Florida in August of 2006.
I began to receive calls from media asking about different disease outbreaks. Most main stream media did not have an extensive knowledge of pandemic preparedness. There were some really great reporters at the time like Helen Branswell, Maryn McKenna, Jason Gale, Lisa Schnirring, and Robin McDowell who did understand.
Our team posted as many WHO, OMS, CDC, White House bulletins and preparedness documents as we could find. Many countries were using the US and New Zealand preparedness documents and studies as a baseline.
Some of the "hot topics" were: Did migratory birds spread H5N1?, Which masks provided the best fit for use in a flu pandemic?, How much cash should you keep on hand? Should tamiflu be taken prophylactically or at disease onset in a pandemic? What was the real CFR of the known human H5N1 cases? Is there validity to the concept of recombination as a mode of virus evolution?
We watched the first documented human to human to human transmission of H5N1 in what is known today as the "Karo Cluster". Turkey had an extensive outbreak in poultry and there were human infections too. But neither of these situations seemed to develop further transmission capability in humans. H5N1 became endemic in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Egypt. China culled millions of poultry and also had some human infections.
I was spending more and more time on FluTrackers as were many others. The seriousness of the Karo Cluster made us realize that an H5N1 pandemic was a real possibility.
By the end of 2006 more fantastic people joined. Among them: Amish Country, Cartski, Cozodapo, drjagathv, DRJJ, Harpsong, InKy, Jonesie, MichaelGreger, Readymom, scottmcpherson, thedoctor, vinny, wdcare, and yielddude.
Everyone worked very hard. In the early days Mellie and others loaded the site. Shannon began an extensive work to document the effectiveness of natural treatments for flu. LMonty posted her large collection of preparation information. Amish Country also added preparation data. scottmcpherson posted about the information technology challenges in a pandemic. Gänseerpel began posting in German along with Gsgs. Dutchy, Treyfish, Frenchiegirl, Hawkeye, Theresa42, Oric, Zhurmus and others concentrated on finding news. Mamabird, HenryN, Gsgs, JJackson, Mingus, and Toaster2 posted genetic and virology data. AlaskaDenise and Niko not only posted pertinent information but they also kept the forum organized by moving thousands of threads. Thorton and Colormyquilt organized the Psychology forum. Anne posted medical journals. Blue coordinated information for health care workers. Laidback Al and Kent Nickell posted about the economic consequences of a pandemic. modTech spent countless hours assisting in the software requirements of the site. Vibrant62 added dynamic analysis.
We began to be recognized. I attended the CIDRAP conference in February 2007 and some attendees knew about FluTrackers. Many told me that they lurked often. I met Scott McPherson who was attending on behalf of the Legislature of Florida. He was hilarious. He asked me for some FluTrackers business cards and I gave him about 40 at a open house cocktail reception. The next morning I saw him in a hallway and he asked for more. He had distributed them all in 1 night! lol
We received I.R.S. approval as a 503(c)(3) charity in January 2007. A major milestone that would help us raise money to maintain the site.
For most of 2007 we solidified the data on the site. We were now tracking more than a dozen emerging and re-emerging diseases. We established an Advisory Board. Also, we began the practice of "promoting" members to moderator status to provide the site with 24/7 coverage. Moderators have the ability to edit the site and many also hold Editor status. They have wide discretion to mold the site - daily. Sally and I decided to take a "hands off" approach to managing the site. Since we had some of the best posters on the internet posting on FT we decided to let them "do their thing" with as little interference as possible. We felt, and still feel that the personalities of the various posters are an important component to the information presented.
We were privileged to have more internet leaders join including: Camster, DemFromCT, Farmer, Ironorehopper, Mixin, Muscade. Ironorehopper began the Italian forum. Muscade and Lili began to post in the French forum and later would be responsible for building it into the extensive forum we have today.
I made a road trip down the East Coast of the United States and I was able to meet some of our members - such a nice group.
In January 2008 Sally became our newest Director of FluTrackers.com Inc. Her wide knowledge of pandemic issues, her 2 years experience on FluTrackers, and her patient temperament made her the perfect choice. She has maintained the site, over night for us in Europe and the US, for 5 years. A great friend and confidant.
In 2008 we were formally acknowledged for our contribution to pandemic awareness and preparedness. The Don McNeil of the New York Times listed us as his source for bird flu tracking. The US Department of Health and Human Services invited us to meet Secretary Levitt at a table top exercise for pandemic communication. We sat along side many main stream media.
At the same table.
Us. A bunch of people from around the world. Advising the US government about pandemic communication on the internet.
It was then that I realized the kind of impact we were having, Not just as trackers and disseminators of information, but also as internet personas. People knew who we were. One woman said to Treyfish - "Wow - so YOU are Treyfish!" Another person said to me, "I have been waiting for FluTrackers to arrive!" It was clear that they liked the interactions on the site - the unique personas and communication style of each of us. We had become a sort of disease CSI. People could log on and watch us solve disease mysteries. In fact, whenever I meet people who are familiar with the site they ask about you. They want to know if I know you in real life. They follow your posts and want to know how you are. You have "fans".
Also in 2008 we began to appear, host, and some times produce, a weekly radio show about pandemic awareness and preparedness. We were very lucky to be able to interview some of the leaders on pandemic issues including: Gregory Hartl of the WHO, Michael Osterholm PhD, John Barry, William Schaffner M.D., and David Fedson, M.D.
CIDRAP began to quote FluTrackers as a source in 2008 "..FluTrackers, a well-known Web message board that focuses on avian flu developments, told CIDRAP News that Indonesia's decision to delay H5N1 notifications will obscure what is happening there, which negatively affects the world's ability to prepare for a pandemic..."
Joining us, among others, were: Annie Prange, Hanshilinquo, kathybb, Kiwibird, MaYingshen, Ningtyas, Shiloh, and Sunshine123.
In January 2009 we started our twitter account posting daily contents from the site. We were recognized for our excellence by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication on their Reporting on Health blog. We are still listed there alongside the CDC, Reuters, and Helen Branswell.
Also in 2009 we were recognized by Medpedia and our live twitter feed is listed there (above the CDC
) under "Flu" as a "reliable source".
We faced many challenges in 2009 brought on by the A/H1N1 pandemic. For a period of time we only accepted new participants via email as a way to control the deluge of new requests while we were busy 24/7 operating the site. Since we were not expecting a novel H1N1 pandemic we had to overnight change the grid to accommodate the voluminous amount of information that was flooding the media. Many rumours emerged on both the internet and main stream media since many non-science writers were not familiar with pandemic issues. All kinds of crazy headlines hit the airwaves.
Again we were invited to a media event in Washington D.C sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services. This meeting was much larger with many main stream media participating. Treyfish also attended again and he wrote about his experience here.
Our team grew again with a new group of participants. To name a few: alert, Appleblossom, calyx, Celvin11, Chuck, Datamom, Emily, Flufreak, fredvries, german-doctor, Hogweed, JamesS, JimO, LaMenchos, Liam, LizW, Makoto, ming, Missouriwatcher, morningperson, Pathfinder, Roehl JC, RoRo, Rwilmer, SuperNova1987A, SusanC, tetano, theforeigner, Tomek, Tonka, TrueScotsman, turchin, Twall, vt.mathgirl, Wotan, WTB, and Zac.
Several have made the claim that they were "the first" to discover the 2009 pandemic but I think without a doubt we were the first team to publicly publicize, on the internet, the problem developing in both Mexico and San Diego with this thread: The Discovery of the 2009 A/H1N1 Pandemic - Mexico: April 17 New Respiratory Illnesses - Including Mexico City & Oaxaca. We also followed through with our twitter account.
In 2009 we were the centerfold in the December issue of the Discover Magazine article "Flu Wars" and ProMED began to publish our disease outbreak finds.
As the year progressed members found their niche. Pathfinder posted all the vaccine clinic notices that she could find around the world so that people could easily find available vaccine in their local areas. german-docter assisted in the German forum. LaMenchos manually translated pertinent CDC advisories into Spanish. LizW wrote news releases for us. Missouriwatcher posted official recall notices and flu reports. RoRo began and maintained a huge H1N1 data bank of cases. Twall, Hogweed, and TrueScotsman found news to post. Tetano posted scientific articles and tracked flu outbreaks. JimO and Appleblossom also tallied A/H1N1 cases. Makoto specialized on Japan in both English and French. Emily always finds an interesting topic to post. Tonka expanded our Spanish forum along with LaMenchos.
In 2010 we prepared the site for a potential dramatic upswing in A/H1N1 cases. Tracking H5N1 became more difficult as some countries had trouble differentiating between severe A/H1N1 and mild H5N1 cases. In addition, most countries determined that H5N1 was bad for business and it appeared that they were reluctant to report any suspected cases. We opened a ILI/ Pneumonia forum to watch for any increase in ARDS cases as a bell weather for severe influenza. Most interesting was the discovery of several swine H3N2 cases in humans.
We were fortunate to add more great new members: Arkanoid Legent, CopitoSP, curiosity, jflorida, and NS1. We also activated our facebook account.
This brings us to 2011.
As I write this I am very thankful to be here and that my family is doing well. I fully realize the privilege of being able to publish what we find along with our comments. I am mindful of what is going on now in Egypt.
Since the revolt started we have no information about the ongoing A/H1N1 epidemic or the status of H5N1. In the first 4 weeks of 2011 Egypt announced 4 cases and 1 death from H5N1. And now - nothing. As reporters quit the state run media due to pressure to comply with propaganda requirements, it is apparent that the figures officially reported for A/H1N1 and H5N1 may not be accurate. This is problematic.
Other countries are not frank about the health threats either.
So when the official channels of information break down, what is there?
There is us.
The people.
The world belongs to us anyway and we have to take charge of our destiny.
For too long we have depended on governments to provide or "save" us. Most people do not prepare for disasters because they think the government will take care of everything. This is simply not true. If I could say one thing after 5 years it would be - Become self-sufficient.
The A/H1N1 2009 pandemic came out of nowhere. Tens of thousands were infected before we even knew there was a pandemic. We were lucky it was not worse.
We can learn from the Egypt situation. Have cash on hand. Establish redundant forms of communication. Keep your cars gassed. Make a list of those who you could depend on in an emergency. Keep 2 weeks of food in your pantry (at least). Have a good first aid kit.
Tell your loved ones you love them every chance you get.
Thank you all for such a fantastic 5 years. It is an honor to work among such a great group of humanitarians. Each and every one.
I will never forget it.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EiJck_dTmiM" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>
I never thought ahead to this day. I never envisioned that we would still be online. Honestly.....I do not know what I was thinking.
I thought this would be a nice hobby type project for my spare time. I was really surprised when 4 scientists from the National Institutes of Health joined in the first week.
One by one the "bird flu forum" leaders added their names to our list that first week: Binkerbear, GaudiaRay, HenryN, Laidback Al, Mellie, ModTech, Oric, Sally, Sharpe, SophieZoe, Theresa42, Viamede, Vibrant62, and Zkurmus. Some did not post right away. Others spent hours each day loading the site with the most pertinent data that they could find.
There were a wide array of "bird flu" sites. Some other new sites started that Spring were Plan for Pandemic and Avian Flu Diary. Effect Measure, H5N1 Blog, CE Flu Clinic, Flu Wiki had been created the year before. None of us knew each other but Flu Wiki was very generous in helping FT by letting us post much of their information with a credit back to them. Revere also joined FT to lend his support.
We had a chat room and it was a lot of fun to go in there and chat with various members. I remember Treyfish talking about his "preps". Jeremy would entertain everyone by flashing a link to a news story with the question "Guys - do you think THIS is bird flu?". Sally was always quiet in chat when there was a group of us in there. A quiet giant taking it all in.
We also had many problems. We were the focus of a vicious internet campaign to prevent the site from taking off. I received ha te and sex ual email. We were bashed from one end of the internet to the other for our policy of no violence talk. Also, we insisted that everyone behave on the site as if they were in our living room. We moderated the site to be sure that these basic tenets were followed.
As bizarre as it sounds now, these positions were, at the time, not accepted practice on the internet and we were heavily criticized and hazed for it. The internet was a much wilder place then. No one "had their blog" like they do today. Defamation was widespread. If a member of a site was banned, it was customary for that site to host a banning thread to further humiliate the member who was not allowed to respond. No wonder most people stayed off the discussion forums. Those that participated used pseudonyms. Melanie Mattson of Flu Wiki was unique in using her real name in 2005.
No professionals joined discussion forums. We had a few. So did Flu Wiki. But this was very unusual. Twitter and Facebook were years away. Flip phones were new and none of them took pictures.
At about the 10th week we had a choice. Go the route of most forums of the day and engage in various bashings, violence talk - or widen our scope with the inclusion of more languages, and diseases. We had a split on the site. Jeremy and I decided to widen the scope and to pursue creating an emotionally safe place on the internet. A place where compassion and dignity were more important than who got the last word or who was "right".
We made a lot of mistakes. We did not always "get it". There were no manuals on how to "crowd source". In fact, that term was not coined yet.
We had no idea what we were doing but our decisions were always based by asking the question: "What will help the most people?"
With our new start we greatly expanded the site in May of 2006. We added the French forum and German forums and opened the emerging disease and scientific library forums. Besides Flu Wiki there was no other place on the internet that was assembling a free and open collection of scientific material devoted to H5N1.
Also joining our team in the Spring and Summer of 2006 were: AlaskaDenise, Anne, Blue, BroncoBill, Canagica, Dark Horse, Eladdie, Thornton, Colormyquilt, Commonground, Corn, Curious, Daisy, Dutchy, e_amigeri, FluBossie, Fredness, Frenchiegirl, Gsgs, GhostRN, Gänseerpel, Hawkeye, KBD, JetStubby, JJackson, KC, Kent Nickell, Legadillo, Lili, LMonty, Lyro, Mamabird, MHSC, Michael Coston, Mingus, Nancy, Niko, Okieman, Oldman, Pamwv41, Peterpan, Prebdeb, Pfwag, Quiplash, Ruthbeme, Science Teacher, Shannon, Siam, Snicklefritz, Steveosteen, and St. Michael, Toaster2, Unpathedhaunt.
The site expanded to include more languages and diseases. It was impossible to thoroughly discuss bird flu without understanding dengue, tuberculosis, congo hemorrhagic fever, ARDS/SARS, yellow fever and others.
We incorporated as a Non Profit corporation in the state of Florida in August of 2006.
I began to receive calls from media asking about different disease outbreaks. Most main stream media did not have an extensive knowledge of pandemic preparedness. There were some really great reporters at the time like Helen Branswell, Maryn McKenna, Jason Gale, Lisa Schnirring, and Robin McDowell who did understand.
Our team posted as many WHO, OMS, CDC, White House bulletins and preparedness documents as we could find. Many countries were using the US and New Zealand preparedness documents and studies as a baseline.
Some of the "hot topics" were: Did migratory birds spread H5N1?, Which masks provided the best fit for use in a flu pandemic?, How much cash should you keep on hand? Should tamiflu be taken prophylactically or at disease onset in a pandemic? What was the real CFR of the known human H5N1 cases? Is there validity to the concept of recombination as a mode of virus evolution?
We watched the first documented human to human to human transmission of H5N1 in what is known today as the "Karo Cluster". Turkey had an extensive outbreak in poultry and there were human infections too. But neither of these situations seemed to develop further transmission capability in humans. H5N1 became endemic in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Egypt. China culled millions of poultry and also had some human infections.
I was spending more and more time on FluTrackers as were many others. The seriousness of the Karo Cluster made us realize that an H5N1 pandemic was a real possibility.
By the end of 2006 more fantastic people joined. Among them: Amish Country, Cartski, Cozodapo, drjagathv, DRJJ, Harpsong, InKy, Jonesie, MichaelGreger, Readymom, scottmcpherson, thedoctor, vinny, wdcare, and yielddude.
Everyone worked very hard. In the early days Mellie and others loaded the site. Shannon began an extensive work to document the effectiveness of natural treatments for flu. LMonty posted her large collection of preparation information. Amish Country also added preparation data. scottmcpherson posted about the information technology challenges in a pandemic. Gänseerpel began posting in German along with Gsgs. Dutchy, Treyfish, Frenchiegirl, Hawkeye, Theresa42, Oric, Zhurmus and others concentrated on finding news. Mamabird, HenryN, Gsgs, JJackson, Mingus, and Toaster2 posted genetic and virology data. AlaskaDenise and Niko not only posted pertinent information but they also kept the forum organized by moving thousands of threads. Thorton and Colormyquilt organized the Psychology forum. Anne posted medical journals. Blue coordinated information for health care workers. Laidback Al and Kent Nickell posted about the economic consequences of a pandemic. modTech spent countless hours assisting in the software requirements of the site. Vibrant62 added dynamic analysis.
We began to be recognized. I attended the CIDRAP conference in February 2007 and some attendees knew about FluTrackers. Many told me that they lurked often. I met Scott McPherson who was attending on behalf of the Legislature of Florida. He was hilarious. He asked me for some FluTrackers business cards and I gave him about 40 at a open house cocktail reception. The next morning I saw him in a hallway and he asked for more. He had distributed them all in 1 night! lol
We received I.R.S. approval as a 503(c)(3) charity in January 2007. A major milestone that would help us raise money to maintain the site.
For most of 2007 we solidified the data on the site. We were now tracking more than a dozen emerging and re-emerging diseases. We established an Advisory Board. Also, we began the practice of "promoting" members to moderator status to provide the site with 24/7 coverage. Moderators have the ability to edit the site and many also hold Editor status. They have wide discretion to mold the site - daily. Sally and I decided to take a "hands off" approach to managing the site. Since we had some of the best posters on the internet posting on FT we decided to let them "do their thing" with as little interference as possible. We felt, and still feel that the personalities of the various posters are an important component to the information presented.
We were privileged to have more internet leaders join including: Camster, DemFromCT, Farmer, Ironorehopper, Mixin, Muscade. Ironorehopper began the Italian forum. Muscade and Lili began to post in the French forum and later would be responsible for building it into the extensive forum we have today.
I made a road trip down the East Coast of the United States and I was able to meet some of our members - such a nice group.
In January 2008 Sally became our newest Director of FluTrackers.com Inc. Her wide knowledge of pandemic issues, her 2 years experience on FluTrackers, and her patient temperament made her the perfect choice. She has maintained the site, over night for us in Europe and the US, for 5 years. A great friend and confidant.
In 2008 we were formally acknowledged for our contribution to pandemic awareness and preparedness. The Don McNeil of the New York Times listed us as his source for bird flu tracking. The US Department of Health and Human Services invited us to meet Secretary Levitt at a table top exercise for pandemic communication. We sat along side many main stream media.
At the same table.
Us. A bunch of people from around the world. Advising the US government about pandemic communication on the internet.
It was then that I realized the kind of impact we were having, Not just as trackers and disseminators of information, but also as internet personas. People knew who we were. One woman said to Treyfish - "Wow - so YOU are Treyfish!" Another person said to me, "I have been waiting for FluTrackers to arrive!" It was clear that they liked the interactions on the site - the unique personas and communication style of each of us. We had become a sort of disease CSI. People could log on and watch us solve disease mysteries. In fact, whenever I meet people who are familiar with the site they ask about you. They want to know if I know you in real life. They follow your posts and want to know how you are. You have "fans".
Also in 2008 we began to appear, host, and some times produce, a weekly radio show about pandemic awareness and preparedness. We were very lucky to be able to interview some of the leaders on pandemic issues including: Gregory Hartl of the WHO, Michael Osterholm PhD, John Barry, William Schaffner M.D., and David Fedson, M.D.
CIDRAP began to quote FluTrackers as a source in 2008 "..FluTrackers, a well-known Web message board that focuses on avian flu developments, told CIDRAP News that Indonesia's decision to delay H5N1 notifications will obscure what is happening there, which negatively affects the world's ability to prepare for a pandemic..."
Joining us, among others, were: Annie Prange, Hanshilinquo, kathybb, Kiwibird, MaYingshen, Ningtyas, Shiloh, and Sunshine123.
In January 2009 we started our twitter account posting daily contents from the site. We were recognized for our excellence by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication on their Reporting on Health blog. We are still listed there alongside the CDC, Reuters, and Helen Branswell.
Also in 2009 we were recognized by Medpedia and our live twitter feed is listed there (above the CDC
) under "Flu" as a "reliable source".We faced many challenges in 2009 brought on by the A/H1N1 pandemic. For a period of time we only accepted new participants via email as a way to control the deluge of new requests while we were busy 24/7 operating the site. Since we were not expecting a novel H1N1 pandemic we had to overnight change the grid to accommodate the voluminous amount of information that was flooding the media. Many rumours emerged on both the internet and main stream media since many non-science writers were not familiar with pandemic issues. All kinds of crazy headlines hit the airwaves.
Again we were invited to a media event in Washington D.C sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services. This meeting was much larger with many main stream media participating. Treyfish also attended again and he wrote about his experience here.
Our team grew again with a new group of participants. To name a few: alert, Appleblossom, calyx, Celvin11, Chuck, Datamom, Emily, Flufreak, fredvries, german-doctor, Hogweed, JamesS, JimO, LaMenchos, Liam, LizW, Makoto, ming, Missouriwatcher, morningperson, Pathfinder, Roehl JC, RoRo, Rwilmer, SuperNova1987A, SusanC, tetano, theforeigner, Tomek, Tonka, TrueScotsman, turchin, Twall, vt.mathgirl, Wotan, WTB, and Zac.
Several have made the claim that they were "the first" to discover the 2009 pandemic but I think without a doubt we were the first team to publicly publicize, on the internet, the problem developing in both Mexico and San Diego with this thread: The Discovery of the 2009 A/H1N1 Pandemic - Mexico: April 17 New Respiratory Illnesses - Including Mexico City & Oaxaca. We also followed through with our twitter account.
In 2009 we were the centerfold in the December issue of the Discover Magazine article "Flu Wars" and ProMED began to publish our disease outbreak finds.
As the year progressed members found their niche. Pathfinder posted all the vaccine clinic notices that she could find around the world so that people could easily find available vaccine in their local areas. german-docter assisted in the German forum. LaMenchos manually translated pertinent CDC advisories into Spanish. LizW wrote news releases for us. Missouriwatcher posted official recall notices and flu reports. RoRo began and maintained a huge H1N1 data bank of cases. Twall, Hogweed, and TrueScotsman found news to post. Tetano posted scientific articles and tracked flu outbreaks. JimO and Appleblossom also tallied A/H1N1 cases. Makoto specialized on Japan in both English and French. Emily always finds an interesting topic to post. Tonka expanded our Spanish forum along with LaMenchos.
In 2010 we prepared the site for a potential dramatic upswing in A/H1N1 cases. Tracking H5N1 became more difficult as some countries had trouble differentiating between severe A/H1N1 and mild H5N1 cases. In addition, most countries determined that H5N1 was bad for business and it appeared that they were reluctant to report any suspected cases. We opened a ILI/ Pneumonia forum to watch for any increase in ARDS cases as a bell weather for severe influenza. Most interesting was the discovery of several swine H3N2 cases in humans.
We were fortunate to add more great new members: Arkanoid Legent, CopitoSP, curiosity, jflorida, and NS1. We also activated our facebook account.
This brings us to 2011.
As I write this I am very thankful to be here and that my family is doing well. I fully realize the privilege of being able to publish what we find along with our comments. I am mindful of what is going on now in Egypt.
Since the revolt started we have no information about the ongoing A/H1N1 epidemic or the status of H5N1. In the first 4 weeks of 2011 Egypt announced 4 cases and 1 death from H5N1. And now - nothing. As reporters quit the state run media due to pressure to comply with propaganda requirements, it is apparent that the figures officially reported for A/H1N1 and H5N1 may not be accurate. This is problematic.
Other countries are not frank about the health threats either.
So when the official channels of information break down, what is there?
There is us.
The people.
The world belongs to us anyway and we have to take charge of our destiny.
For too long we have depended on governments to provide or "save" us. Most people do not prepare for disasters because they think the government will take care of everything. This is simply not true. If I could say one thing after 5 years it would be - Become self-sufficient.
The A/H1N1 2009 pandemic came out of nowhere. Tens of thousands were infected before we even knew there was a pandemic. We were lucky it was not worse.
We can learn from the Egypt situation. Have cash on hand. Establish redundant forms of communication. Keep your cars gassed. Make a list of those who you could depend on in an emergency. Keep 2 weeks of food in your pantry (at least). Have a good first aid kit.
Tell your loved ones you love them every chance you get.
Thank you all for such a fantastic 5 years. It is an honor to work among such a great group of humanitarians. Each and every one.
I will never forget it.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EiJck_dTmiM" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>
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