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Bird flu- did it deserve Einstein
Albert Einstein perhaps fantasized about what it would be like to ride a beam of light and conceptualized his famous Theory of Relativity...

Date : May 29, 2006

Albert Einstein perhaps fantasized about what it would be like to ride a beam of light and conceptualized his famous Theory of Relativity. He must have visualized that the human mind has first to construct forms independently before we find them in things. Thus to articulate any change one has to stretch his imagination beyond his specific visible limits, as we may say, "what you see is what you get. So change your eyes ". For today's generation the thought of Albert Einstein being a doctor rather than a scientist would lead to bitter rivalry between these two educated factions of the society.

The question still remains unanswered - Had Einstein been a doctor was it possible for him to view the sparse Bird flu occurrences in 1918 (virulent form H1N1) as a potential threat to the mankind of early 21st century. In the possibility of his being a doctor his famous theory of relativity "E=mc²" would have thus been interpreted as: -

E = Energy of the bird (in joules/watt)
m = mass of the bird (in kgs)
c = velocity of the bird (in m/sec)

The equation may have had been different or the thought of converting his equation of Relativity to equation of Bird Flu might seem absurd but what if it was true?

Bird Flu (present virulent form known as H5N1) is a mutation of the H1N1 virus and has evolved over decades. Unfortunately, it did not have any takers like Einstein and has since become a life threatening disease especially so in the last few decades. The potential pandemic that could occur at any time was at the doorsteps of mankind when the world woke up to it. It had the potential to wipe out civilizations, if not effectively handled, which included quarantining of the infected area and culling of millions of birds. The bird flu primarily reported in South East Asian region in the last decade winged its way to Europe. The spread is reported to be via saliva, feaces or secretion of the bird to the humans by direct contact. The immunity of the body is affected by bird flu ultimately resulting in death of a human being.

Bird flu seems to be aggressively competing with AIDS to destroy mankind. Developing countries appear to have been hit harder because of unawareness about the disease amongst its population, limited health care facilities and insufficient space. Though WHO is handling the issue competitively in a very sensitive manner and drugs like Tamiflu has been recommended for prevention against Bird Flu but care must be taken by the individuals themselves to prevent a direct contact with the infected poultry thereby limiting the spread of the disease.

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