[PW] Re: Number of birds in China in 1968/2006--reliable??

[Bob Boyce]

  I wonder how Dr. Osterholm got his figures, and how reliable they are. I find the increase in numbers of pigs and chickens from 1968 to the present to be incredible--5.2 million to 508 million pigs? 12 million to 13 billion chickens?
A thousand times more chickens?
  And of course, such changes as this throw into a cocked hat any attempt to make projections about 1918, the years before and after...

Bob Boyce
Reference Department, Lincoln NE City Libraries
r.boyce at LincolnLibraries.org

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Fred Acerri" <facerri at twmi.rr.com>
Reply-To: list at project-wombat.org
Date:  Fri, 1 Sep 2006 17:44:27 -0400

Let's have some more numbers from Dr Osterholm, just to encourage you. He 
writes: "It is sobering to realize that in 1968, when the most recent 
influenza pandemic occurred, the virus emerged in a China that had a human 
population of 790 million, a pig population of 5.2 million, and a poultry 
population of 12.3 million; today, these populations number 1.3 billion, 508 
million, and 13 billion, respectively.
Info gotten from this site: http://avianflu.futurehs.com/?m=200506
Fred A



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "maura deedy" <mdeedy at fergusonlibrary.org>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 4:08 PM
Subject: [PW] Number of birds in China in 1918


> Alright,
>
> Here is my first posting. A good one for a late Friday.
>
> My patron is interested in the number of birds or chickens in China in
> 1918 and a few years before and after.
> I found some articles that talk about the 1918 Flu and today's Bird Flu
> scares. But, I wonder if this is data that exists. I know there are many
> different variables to be considered, but some general number would be
> great.
>
> I figured it is worth it to bounce it off the wombats...
>
> Cheers!
>
> -- 
> Maura Deedy
> Reference Librarian, Information Services
> The Ferguson Library
> One Public Library Plaza
> Stamford, CT 06904
> 203-351-8239
>
> _______________________________________________
> Project Wombat
> list at project-wombat.org
> http://www.project-wombat.org/ 

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