new to the group...

[El Don]

It seems that for most of us who are concerned, the main questions
revolve around how to prepare. For me, that means first, how to avoid
contracting the disease once it mutates into the human-transmissable
form, and secondly, how to deal with the social upheaval of a global
pandemic. I am hoping that discussion within the group will help me to
answer , or at least start to deal with, these two concerns.

In regards to the first question, how to avoid contracting the
disease, I also wonder how Tamiful can be effective if the virus has
not yet mutated into its human transmissible form. Does anyone have
general knowledge of how Tamifle works? Is it a general anti-viral
medecine? Is there any online source for Tamiflu ?? I am also
assuming that the same things one might do to avoid getting the normal
winter-time flue are also first lines of defense in the case of avian
flu... does anyone know if this is the case??

Then, coping with the social upheaval of a pandemic.... watching
efforts in New Orleans to deal with hurricane Katrina did not bolster
my confidence in FEMA. What are the best estimates as to how many
people would be sick? 2% of the population?? More?? What happened to
social systems during the 1918 pandemic?

I don't know if there are answers to these questions, but it helps to
talk....