# 2680
Today marks my third blogiversary at Avian Flu Diary - my very first essay under this banner , A humble Beginning - appeared on January 20th, 2006.
Looking back at the prose and content of that entry, that first essay was aptly titled.
Of course, I never expected anyone to actually read it.
I originally created this blog as a personal diary, and to hopefully let a handful of friends and relatives stay updated on the pandemic threat.
I had no idea anyone else would ever find it.
Three years, and roughly 2700 blog entries later, little has changed. The world remains uncomfortably vulnerable to a pandemic and I remain uncomfortably vulnerable to poor writing.
While it is my name in the banner, in truth this blog comes about through the efforts of scores people from around the world. Without their input, I'd have run out of things to write years ago.
Atop my list of people who deserve credit are the other flu bloggers, all of whom I am pleased to call friends, advisors, and colleagues.
Crof at H5N1 Crofsblog was one of the first, and arguably remains one of the best, flu bloggers. Just about everything I think I know about blogging, I lifted from Crof.
Thanks Crof, you've been a great teacher.
The Reveres over at Effect Measure have been very supportive of this blogger, as well. Suffering in silence, no doubt, as I've clumsily attempted to explain the science behind influenza.
Whatever I got right, I owe to the Reveres. Whatever I got wrong, is on me alone.
SophiaZoe, editor of A Pandemic Chronicle, was one of my earliest flubie friends, and remains my cyber-twin and buddy to this day. I've been lucky enough to meet up with her and her husband on several occasions.
I taught her (and a handful of others) how to suture one night at a party a couple of years ago (we practiced on a large, deveined shrimp), and once, in a weak moment, I even let her practice starting an IV on me.
Being an ex-cop and an excellent shot, she hit my antecubital vein on the first try.
Now you know what flubies do when they party!
Trying to figure out where to mention Maryn Mckenna in all of this is a little difficult, as she is obviously a Renaissance woman. Author, journalist, blogger, pilot . . . .
She and I first `met' via a phone call in early 2007. Maryn was working on an article for CIDRAP on grassroots initiatives for pandemic planners.
I don't remember exactly what we talked about for 40 minutes, but I remember we laughed a lot.
Her Superbug blog serves as a whiteboard for her upcoming book on MRSA. And she is an award winning author, with her non-fiction book Beating Back The Devil winning much praise.
Formerly a newspaper reporter for the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, she is now a freelance writer, often scribing for CIDRAP. Last year Maryn received an Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism for her seven-part series, "The Pandemic Vaccine Puzzle."
Maryn reminds me of how little I've actually accomplished in my life.
Another blogger I've had the great fortune to meet, and work with, is DemFromCt, editor of the Flu Wiki and a blogger on the Daily Kos. We've worked together on three projects so far; The 2007 HHS Pandemic Leadership Blog, the 2008 Pandemic Tabletop Exercise, and are both contributors to GetPandemicReady.Org.
And then there's the blogger many of you not have heard of. Unless of course you are a health care professional and belong to the largest nursing forum on the Internet, Allnurses.com.
Indigo Girl, who is an RN, has been synopsizing pandemic/bird flu news and blogs for well over two years on that site. Despite her narrow venue, her reading audience is probably larger than mine.
She is every bit as knowledgeable as any of the other flu bloggers, and her goal, to educate health care workers about the dangers of pandemic influenza, is a noble one.
I'm very pleased to call her my dear friend.
Scott McPherson has a demanding day job as CIO (Chief Information Officer) for the Florida House of Representatives, so he doesn't blog as much as his readers would like. But he too, is a supportive friend and colleague.
And there's Joel at Preparedness and Response, Catherine `Jackie' Mitchell of Prepared Citizens, and newcomer Ma Yingshen Chen Qi- A Morning Fresh Breeze.
As a flu blogger, I find myself in excellent company. And very appreciative of that fact.
Each day I rely upon the newshounds on the flu forums to dig up, and translate, news items from all around the world. They not only find these tidbits of information, they often provide analysis as well.
Trying to name all of the newshounds is folly, of course. No matter how diligent I am in recounting their names, I'll miss a few. Still, a partial list is better than no list at all. With apologies to anyone I left out, my thanks go to:
Dutchy, Ironorehopper, Treyfish, Commonground, Niman, Florida1, DemFromCt, SusanC, Kobie, Carol@SC, Pixie, mojo, bgw in MT, Readymom, pugmom, Frenchiegirl, AlohaOr, UK-Bird, Rick, Canada Sue, Mosaic, Cottontop, Influentia2, Mojo, Michelle in OK, Mary In Hawaii, dbg, flubergasted, Laidback Al, Alaska Denise, Siam, InKy, History Lover . . .
For more information on the work that the newshounds do, check out Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.
I, of course, get a good deal of my information from professional journalists as well. Some of whom, I've been fortunate enough to meet along the way.
Writing about influenza, or pandemic issues, is a specialized field and it demands more than just being able to write using the 5 W's (and one H)(Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) of journalism.
A solid understanding of the background science is a must, as is having a Rolodex (ok, showing my age . . . a PDA) filled with contacts in the scientific community.
Some of the names who stand out are Helen Branswell of the Canadian Press, Maggie Fox of Reuters, Maryn McKenna of CIDRAP, Jason Gale of Bloomberg, Lisa Schnirring and Robert Roos of CIDRAP, Patrick Thibodeau of ComputerWorld, Robin McDowell of the AP, and Emmy Fitri of the Jakarta Post.
I know, when I find an article by any of these writers, that it will be well written and impeccably researched.
I owe a special debt of thanks to Sharon Sanders, aka Florida1, editor of Flutrackers. She has not only been a valued friend and advisor, she has archived hundreds of my blogs on their site. It is a rare day when we don't communicate by email, chat, or Skype. Thanks, Sharon.
The list of others, to whom I owe much, is long. I can't mention them all, of course. But some would include:
Stephanie Marshall, Christina Pearson, and others at the HHS, who believed in the new media of the Internet enough to invite wildcard flu bloggers, like myself (and others), to participate in HHS events.
The staff at CIDRAP (Center For Infectious Disease Research & Policy) News, who have extended friendship and support to this blogger. Particularly Lisa, Maryn, and Nick.
Dr. Michael Greger, whose book Bird Flu: A Virus of our own hatching is a must read, and whose lecture on bird flu hits the nail on the head. Much of what I know about bird flu, I learned from Dr. Greger.
A special thanks to my friend from the UK, chacal and his wonderful family. And there's Sally, and Seazar, Snick, Ghostrider, Bluesky, and Old Red Wolf, Blitzen, and Corky (and their families). Flubies and friends, alike.
I also owe much to flu forums (and their members) out there, as well.
The most popular are Flu Wiki, Flutrackers, PFP, and PFI. Each has their own style and personality, and in many cases, members of one forum belong to several other forums as well. We even have a french flu forum, run by Lyro out of Quebec, called Zone Grippe Aviaire .
The Flu Wiki, the first of the dedicated flu forums, was founded by DemFromCt, Pogge, and Melanie Mattson, and it was the first flu forum I joined.
Last year, we lost Melanie after a long illness. She was one of the first people in the flu community to encourage me to write. She is greatly missed.
The list becomes long, and probably tedious, but I have to thank people like Karen, and SusanC of Readymoms. And Mel Johnson, and the rest of the volunteers who worked on GetPandemicReady.Org.
And there are the readers of this blog, who for some strange reason, keep coming back. I am truly humbled when I look at the list of visitors to this site. Thank you.
Many of you have taken the time to write me, as well. AnnieRN, Rolf, Graeme, TomDMV, Gary The Fire Dude, Bonnie, Paul, Joel . . . and many others.
Every visit is appreciated, as are the emails.
Even the ones with suggestions with what I can do with my blog.
While I've no doubt left out many of the people who have helped me, and this blog, along the way . . . I think I've made the point.
I've been very lucky to have stumbled upon a unique universe of bright, dedicated, and quite frankly . . . unusually nice people . . . who inhabit this place called flublogia.
The subject matter may be grim, but the people involved are truly remarkable.
And so, whatever I give to this blog pales in comparison to what I get out of it.
As I begin my fourth year of blogging here at AFD, my best wishes go out to everyone who has helped along the way.
With a little bit of luck, this time next year, I'll be celebrating another blogiversary without a pandemic.
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