This is just a hello post to tell you about Flu Wiki and our:

• wiki, called by some the Encyclopedia of Influenza. (There’s quite a lot of stuff on wikipedia, but of course there’s not that much room there for talking about future events with scenarios and ideas governments dare not think about in public.)
• and forum, where a number of so-called “flubies” congregate to follow the news and see how we can prepare, and help their communities (and the whole wide world) to prepare, for the next influenza pandemic.

Why “the next flu pandemic”?

• There have been 10 pandemics in 300 years, about 10 to 50 years appart, the most recent about 39 years ago, so why not this century?
• There’s a new virus (H5N1) which can make humans ill, though it hasn’t managed to go efficiently human-to-human … At least not yet, but it’s in flu viruses’ nature to mutate a little every time they replicate inside animal cells, and also to swap genes if another influenza virus is present inside the same cell … so why not soon?

Now, what about severity? It may vary across a wide range. Scientists are not sure that H5N1, if it becomes pandemic, needs to reduce its ability to kill (61%). Though of course they don’t know if H5N1 will become pandemic. (Yes, it could be some other influenza virus.)

In any case, the next pandemic may be severe because of lethality or disruption or both. Some even think in our highly interconnected and just-in-time’d world there’s can’t be such a thing as a mild pandemic (and maybe we just don’t know, because it’s a wicked problem). Yes: we’ll learn how to sneeze in our elbow pretty quickly, but there may be some (unexpected and sometimes somewhat fun) shortages too.

All of this adds up to a conclusion: This panflu business, among a number of others, is one specific “WHY” for the appropriate, sustainable, plain cool and sensible technologies others here are writing about. Things like Vinay’s hexayurt basic services. For millions (which is tricky). At home, and sooner rather than later. Just in case.

Wishing to learn more from you all. Thanks!