The Flu Wiki

I've already written about the way the tragic federal response to Katrina has caused me to think again about my emergency preparedness, and my stock of earthquake supplies.

In thinking about it further, I have a growing fear that not only are the proper authorities not worrying about completely predictable, historical problems like hurricanes, they certainly aren't spending time preparing for less likely, though potentially more fatal, problems like pandemic.

Which, along with the cold I'm nursing, may be why the recent news out of Indonesia stuck out amidst the Katrina stories, and the open warfare between Iraqi police and British soldiers.

An Indonesian woman who died last week had the H5N1 bird flu virus and was the fourth Indonesian to die of the disease, the health ministry has said.

It was not clear how the 37-year-old woman, who lived in south Jakarta, caught the virus, the ministry said.

More than 60 people have died in four Asian countries since late 2003, and millions of birds have been culled to try to stop the virus spreading.

Scientists fear it could combine with human flu to trigger a global pandemic.

Just as many Americans are drawing the lesson that Katrina means we all need to be a lot more self-reliant in a crisis, several bloggers who've been following the outbreaks of bird flu in Asia have created a web resource to help those interested be prepared. Crazy survivalism? Yeah, maybe, but maybe it's worth thinking ahead of time about what you might need to do.

There is now a "wiki" of flu and public health information. What's a wiki? Like "blog" it's a new type of web-based information, essentially an online collaborative encyclopedia or textbook. Check it out: The Flu Wiki. If you start now, you'll be well prepared to participate in Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, Oct. 3-9.

You can read about national and international surveillance and plans. You can learn about the science. You can get tips on personal prevention and hygiene that will even help keep you from picking up whatever is going around the office, bird flu or no. What can it hurt?

The Bush administration has shown its inability to oversee simple health measures like making sure there is enough of the yearly flu vaccine. It has shown a complete lack of foresight and vision in responding to crisis. It's consistently driven competent scientists out of its agencies by staffing their leadership with incompetents and political hacks. I don't trust them to be looking out for me. So it seems important to take some looks down the road, and see what might be coming our way. Luckily, the creators of the Flu Wiki have already done the hard work.