Dr. Mercola April 29 2009 620,045 views
American health officials declared a public health emergency as cases of swine flu were confirmed in the U.S. Health officials across the world fear this could be the leading edge of a global pandemic emerging from Mexico, where seven people are confirmed dead as a result of the new virus.
On Wednesday April 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to five on its six-level threat scale,1 which means they've determined that the virus is capable of human-to-human transmission. The initial outbreaks across North America reveal an infection already traveling at higher velocity than did the last official pandemic strain, the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
Phase 5 had never been declared since the warning system was introduced in 2005 in response to the avian influenza crisis. Phase 6 means a pandemic is under way. WHO now openly states it is not possible to contain the spread of this infection and recommends mitigation measures, not restricting travel or closing borders.
However, a pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world.
The number of fatalities, and suspected and confirmed cases across the world change depending on the source, so your best bet -- if you want the latest numbers -- is to use Google Maps' Swine Flu Tracker.
Several nations have imposed travel bans, or made plans to quarantine air travelers2 that present symptoms of the swine flu, such as:
Top global flu experts are trying to predict how dangerous the new swine flu strain will be, as it became clear that they had little information about Mexico's outbreak. It is as yet unclear how many cases occurred in the month or so before the outbreak was detected. It's also unknown whether the virus was mutating to be more lethal, or less.
Much Fear Mongering Being Promoted
I suspect you have likely been alarmed by the media's coverage of the swine flu scare. It has a noticeable subplot - preparing you for draconian measures to combat a future pandemic as well as forcing you to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations.
On April 27, Time magazine published an article which discusses how dozens died and hundreds were injured from vaccines as a result of the 1976 swine flu fiasco, when the Ford administration attempted to use the infection of soldiers at Fort Dix as a pretext for a mass vaccination of the entire country.
Despite acknowledging that the 1976 farce was an example of “how not to handle a flu outbreak”, the article still introduces the notion that officials “may soon have to consider whether to institute draconian measures to combat the disease”.
Fortunately some respectable journalists recognize this and are seeking to spread a voice of reason to the fear that is being promoted in the majority of the media
WHO and CDC Pandemic Preparedness Seriously Broken
The pandemic warning system has failed as it simply doesn't exist, even in North America and Europe. To improve the system, massive new investments in surveillance, scientific and regulatory infrastructure, basic public health, and global access to common sense interventions like vitamin D optimization are required.
According to the Washington Post, the CDC did not learn about the outbreak until six days after Mexico had begun to impose emergency measures. There should be no excuses. The paradox of this swine flu panic is that, while totally unexpected, it was accurately predicted. Six years ago, Science dedicated a major story to evidence that "after years of stability, the North American swine flu virus has jumped onto an evolutionary fasttrack".
However, maybe this is precisely what public health authorities desire.
This is NOT the First Swine Flu Panic
My guess is that you can expect to see a lot of panic over this issue in the near future. But the key is to remain calm -- this isn't the first time the public has been warned about swine flu. The last time was in 1976, right before I entered medical school and I remember it very clearly. It resulted in the massive swine flu vaccine campaign.
Do you happen to recall the result of this massive campaign?
Within a few months, claims totaling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims who had suffered paralysis from the vaccine. The vaccine was also blamed for 25 deaths.
However, several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome after they were injected with the swine flu vaccine. Even healthy 20-year-olds ended up as paraplegics.
And the swine flu pandemic itself? It never materialized.
More People Died From the Swine Flu Vaccine than Swine Flu!
It is very difficult to forecast a pandemic, and a rash response can be extremely damaging.
To put things into perspective, malaria kills 3,000 people EVERY DAY, and it's considered "a health problem"... But of course, there are no fancy vaccines for malaria that can rake in billions of dollars in a short amount of time.
One Australian news source,3 for example, states that even a mild swine flu epidemic could lead to the deaths of 1.4 million people and would reduce economic growth by nearly $5 trillion dollars.
Give me a break, if this doesn't sound like the outlandish cries of the pandemic bird-flu I don't know what does. Do you remember when President Bush said two million Americans would die as a result of the bird flu?
In 2005, in 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, those fears were exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear, and line the pocketbooks of various individuals and industry. I became so convinced by the evidence AGAINST the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that I wrote a New York Times bestselling book, The Bird Flu Hoax, all about the massive fraud involved with the epidemic that never happened..
What is the Swine Flu?
Regular swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease, caused by a type-A influenza virus that affects pigs. The current strain, A(H1N1), is a new variation of an H1N1 virus -- which causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans -- that also contains genetic material of bird and pig versions of the flu.
Interestingly enough, this version has never before been seen in neither human nor animal, which I will discuss a bit later.
This does sound bad. But not so fast. There are a few reasons to not rush to conclusions that this is the deadly pandemic we've been told would occur in the near future (as if anyone could predict it without having some sort of inside knowledge).
While in my opinion it is highly likely factory farming is responsible for producing this viral strain, I believe there is still no cause for concern.
You may not know this, but all H1N1 flu's are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. The reason why the flu shot may or may not work, however, from year to year, is due to mutations. Therefore, there's no vaccine available for this current hybrid flu strain, and naturally, this is feeding the fear that millions of people will die before a vaccine can be made.
However, let me remind you of one very important fact here.
Just a couple of months ago, scientists concluded that the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in a matter of 18 months -- which all these worst case scenarios are built upon -- was NOT due to the flu itself!4
Instead, they discovered the real culprit was strep infections.
People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic would likely be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century, the researchers concluded.
Others, such as evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald,5 claim that a pandemic of this sort simply cannot happen, because in order for it to occur, the world has to change. Not the virus itself, but the world.
In a previous interview for Esquire magazine, in which he discusses the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, he states:
"They think that if a virus mutates, it's an evolutionary event. Well, the virus is mutating because that is what viruses and other pathogens do. But evolution is not just random mutation. It is random mutation coupled with natural selection; it is a battle for competitive advantage among different strains generated by random mutation. For bird flu to evolve into a human pandemic, the strain that finds a home in humanity has to be a strain that is both highly virulent and highly transmissible. Deadliness has to translate somehow into popularity; H5N1 has to find a way to kill or immobilize its human hosts, and still find other hosts to infect. Usually that doesn't happen."
"They think that if a virus mutates, it's an evolutionary event. Well, the virus is mutating because that is what viruses and other pathogens do. But evolution is not just random mutation. It is random mutation coupled with natural selection; it is a battle for competitive advantage among different strains generated by random mutation.
For bird flu to evolve into a human pandemic, the strain that finds a home in humanity has to be a strain that is both highly virulent and highly transmissible. Deadliness has to translate somehow into popularity; H5N1 has to find a way to kill or immobilize its human hosts, and still find other hosts to infect. Usually that doesn't happen."
Ewald goes on to explain that evolution in general is all about trade-offs, and in the evolution of infections the trade-off is between virulence and transmissibility.
What this means is that in order for a "bird flu" or "swine flu" to turn into a human pandemic, it has to find an environment that favors both deadly virulence and ease of transmission.
People living in squalor on the Western Front at the end of World War I generated such an environment, from which the epidemic of 1918 could arise.
Likewise, crowded chicken farms, slaughterhouses, and jam-packed markets of eastern Asia provide another such environment, and that environment gave rise to the bird flu -- a pathogen that both kills and spreads, in birds, but not in humans.
Says Ewald:
"We know that H5N1 is well adapted to birds. We also know that it has a hard time becoming a virus that can move from person to person. It has a hard time without our doing anything. But we can make it harder. We can make sure it has no human population in which to evolve transmissibility. There is no need to rely on the mass extermination of chickens. There is no need to stockpile vaccines for everyone. By vaccinating just the people most at risk -- the people who work with chickens and the caregivers -- we can prevent it from becoming transmissible among humans. Then it doesn't matter what it does in chickens."
"We know that H5N1 is well adapted to birds. We also know that it has a hard time becoming a virus that can move from person to person. It has a hard time without our doing anything. But we can make it harder. We can make sure it has no human population in which to evolve transmissibility. There is no need to rely on the mass extermination of chickens. There is no need to stockpile vaccines for everyone.
By vaccinating just the people most at risk -- the people who work with chickens and the caregivers -- we can prevent it from becoming transmissible among humans. Then it doesn't matter what it does in chickens."
Please remember that, despite the fantastic headlines and projections of MILLIONS of deaths, the H5N1 bird flu virus killed a mere 257 people worldwide since late 2003. As unfortunate as those deaths are, 257 deaths worldwide from any disease, over the course of five years, simply does not constitute an emergency worthy of much attention, let alone fear!
Honestly, your risk of being killed by a lightning strike in the last five years was about 2,300 percent higher than your risk of contracting and dying from the bird flu.6 I'm not kidding! In just one year (2004), more than 1,170 people died from lighting strikes, worldwide.7
So please, as the numbers of confirmed swine flu cases are released, keep a level head and don't let fear run away with your brains.
So is the Swine Flu Getting More or Less Dangerous?
On Sunday, April 26, The Independent reported that more than 1,000 people had contracted the swine flu virus in Mexico, 8 but by the afternoon that same day, Mexican President Calderon declared that more than two-thirds of the 1,300 thought to have contracted the disease had been given a clean bill of health and sent home.9
Additionally, the number of actual confirmed cases appears to be far lower than reported in many media outlets, leading me to believe that many reporters are interchanging the terms "suspected cases" and "confirmed cases."
Interestingly Mexico is the ONLY country in the world where someone has actually died from this disease.Mexico has reported 159 fatalities in flu-like cases in recent days, seven of which have been confirmed as swine flu. Another 19 patients have been confirmed as having swine flu but surviving. Although some insiders at WHO believe these numbers are seriously inflated and could be as low as single digits.
According to the World Health Organization's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response site; as of April 30 there are:
Additionally, nearly all suspected new cases have been reported as mild.
Personally, I am highly skeptical. It simply doesn't add up to a real pandemic.
But it does raise serious questions about where this brand new, never before seen virus came from, especially since it cannot be contracted from eating pork products, and has never before been seen in pigs, and contains traits from the bird flu -- and which, so far, only seems to respond to Tamiflu. Are we just that lucky, or... what?
Your Fear Will Make Some People VERY Rich in Today's Crumbling Economy
According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future10 -- and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.
As soon as Homeland Security declared a health emergency, 25 percent -- about 12 million doses -- of Tamiflu and Relenza treatment courses were released from the nation's stockpile. However, beware that the declaration also allows unapproved tests and drugs to be administered to children. Many health- and government officials are more than willing to take that chance with your life, and the life of your child. But are you?
Remember, Tamiflu went through some rough times not too long ago, as the dangers of this drug came to light when, in 2007, the FDA finally began investigating some 1,800 adverse event reports related to the drug. Common side effects of Tamiflu include:
All in all, the very symptoms you're trying to avoid.
More serious symptoms included convulsions, delirium or delusions, and 14 deaths in children and teens as a result of neuropsychiatric problems and brain infections (which led Japan to ban Tamiflu for children in 2007). And that's for a drug that, when used as directed, only reduces the duration of influenza symptoms by 1 to 1 ½ days, according to the official data.
But making matters worse, some patients with influenza are at HIGHER risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu. And secondary bacterial infections, as I mentioned earlier, was likely the REAL cause of the mass fatalities during the 1918 pandemic!
Where did This Mysterious New Animal-Human Flu Strain Come From?
Alongside the fear-mongering headlines, I've also seen increasing numbers of reports questioning the true nature of this virus. And rightfully so.
Could a mixed animal-human mutant like this occur naturally? And if not, who made it, and how was it released?
Not one to dabble too deep in conspiracy theories, I don't have to strain very hard to find actual facts to support the notion that this may not be a natural mutation, and that those who stand to gain have the wherewithal to pull off such a stunt.
Just last month I reported on the story that the American pharmaceutical company Baxter was under investigation for distributing the deadly avian flu virus to 18 different countries as part of a seasonal flu vaccine shipment. Czech reporters were probing to see if it may have been part of a deliberate attempt to start a pandemic; as such a "mistake" would be virtually impossible under the security protocols of that virus.
The H5N1 virus on its own is not very airborne. However, when combined with seasonal flu viruses, which are more easily spread, the effect could be a potent, airborne, deadly, biological weapon. If this batch of live bird flu and seasonal flu viruses had reached the public, it could have resulted in dire consequences.
There is a name for this mixing of viruses; it's called "reassortment," and it is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created in the lab. Some scientists say the most recent global outbreak -- the 1977 Russian flu -- was started by a virus created and leaked from a laboratory.
Another example of the less sterling integrity of Big Pharma is the case of Bayer, who sold millions of dollars worth of an injectable blood-clotting medicine to Asian, Latin American, and some European countries in the mid-1980s, even though they knew it was tainted with the AIDS virus.
So while it is morally unthinkable that a drug company would knowingly contaminate flu vaccines with a deadly flu virus such as the bird- or swine flu, it is certainly not impossible. It has already happened more than once.
But there seems to be no repercussions or hard feelings when industry oversteps the boundaries of morality and integrity and enters the arena of obscenity. Because, lo and behold, which company has been chosen to head up efforts, along with WHO, to produce a vaccine against the Mexican swine flu?
Baxter!11 Despite the fact that ink has barely dried on the investigative reports from their should-be-criminal "mistake" against humanity.
According to other sources,12 a top scientist for the United Nations, who has examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, has concluded that the current swine flu virus possesses certain transmission "vectors" that suggest the new strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon.
The UN expert believes that Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and the current A-H1N1 swine flu virus are biological warfare agents.
In addition, Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick -- the same Army research lab from which the 2001 anthrax strain was released, according to a recent article in the Fredrick News Post.13 In February, the top biodefense lab halted all its research into Ebola, anthrax, plague, and other diseases known as "select agents," after they discovered virus samples that weren't listed in its inventory and might have been switched with something else.
Factory Farming Maybe Source of Swine Flu
Another theory as to the cause of Swine Flu might be factory farming. In the United States, pigs travel coast to coast. They can be bred in North Carolina, fattened in the corn belt of Iowa, and slaughtered in California.
While this may reduce short-term costs for the pork industry, the highly contagious nature of diseases like influenza (perhaps made further infectious by the stresses of transport) needs to be considered when calculating the true cost of long-distance live animal transport.
The majority of U.S. pig farms now confine more than 5,000 animals each. With a group of 5,000 animals, if a novel virus shows up it will have more opportunity to replicate and potentially spread than in a group of 100 pigs on a small farm.
With massive concentrations of farm animals within which to mutate, these new swine flu viruses in North America seem to be on an evolutionary fast track, jumping and reassorting between species at an unprecedented rate.
Should You Accept a Flu Vaccine -- Just to be Safe?
As stated in the New York Times14 and elsewhere, flu experts have no idea whether the current seasonal flu vaccine would offer any protection whatsoever against this exotic mutant, and it will take months to create a new one.
But let me tell you, getting vaccinated now would not only offer no protection and potentially cause great harm, it would most likely be loaded with toxic mercury which is used as a preservative in most flu vaccines..
I've written extensively about the numerous dangers (and ineffectiveness) of flu vaccines, and why I do not recommend them to anyone. So no matter what you hear -- even if it comes from your doctor -- don't get a regular flu shot. They rarely work against seasonal flu...and certainly can't offer protection against a never-before- seen strain.
Currently, the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are the only drugs that appear effective against the (human flu) H1N1 virus, and I strongly believe taking Tamiflu to protect yourself against this new virus could be a serious mistake -- for all the reasons I already mentioned above.
But in addition to the dangerous side effects of Tamiflu, there is also growing evidence of resistance against the drug. In February, the pre-publication and preliminary findings journal called Nature Precedings published a paper on this concern, stating15:
The dramatic rise of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] resistance in the H1N1 serotype in the 2007/2008 season and the fixing of H274Y in the 2008/2009 season has raised concerns regarding individuals at risk for seasonal influenza, as well as development of similar resistance in the H5N1 serotype [bird flu]. Previously, oseltamivir resistance produced changes in H1N1 and H3N2 at multiple positions in treated patients. In contrast, the recently reported resistance involved patients who had not recently taken oseltamivir.
The dramatic rise of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] resistance in the H1N1 serotype in the 2007/2008 season and the fixing of H274Y in the 2008/2009 season has raised concerns regarding individuals at risk for seasonal influenza, as well as development of similar resistance in the H5N1 serotype [bird flu].
Previously, oseltamivir resistance produced changes in H1N1 and H3N2 at multiple positions in treated patients. In contrast, the recently reported resistance involved patients who had not recently taken oseltamivir.
It's one more reason not to bother with this potentially dangerous drug.
And, once a specific swine flu drug is created, you can be sure that it has not had the time to be tested in clinical trials to determine safety and effectiveness, which puts us right back where I started this article -- with a potential repeat of the last dangerous swine flu vaccine, which destroyed the lives of hundreds of people.
Topping the whole mess off, of course, is the fact that if the new vaccine turns out to be a killer, the pharmaceutical companies responsible are immune from lawsuits -- something I've also warned about before on numerous occasions.
Unfortunately, those prospects won't stop the governments of the world from mandating the vaccine -- a scenario I hope we can all avoid.
How to Protect Yourself Without Dangerous Drugs and Vaccinations
I have not caught a flu in over two decades, and you can avoid it too, without getting vaccinated, by following these simple guidelines, which will keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.
This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng.ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp. For those of you in the US we hope to launch a vitamin D testing service through Lab Corp that allows you to have your vitamin D levels checked at your local blood drawing facility, and relatively inexpensively. We hope to offer this service by June 2009. If you are coming down with flu like symptoms and have not been on vitamin D you can take doses of 50,000 units a day for three days to treat the acute infection. Some researchers like Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1000 units per pound of body weight for three days. However, most of Dr. Cannell's work was with seasonal and not pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that the vitamin D might not work. However the best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml. BUT to keep this in perspective the regular flu, not the swine flu, has killed 13,000 in the US since January. But there is strong support that these types of figures are grossly exaggerated to increase vaccine sales. However, the fact remains that the regular flu at this point in time is FAR more dangerous than the swine flu and were you worried about the regular flu before the media started talking this up?
This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng.ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp.
For those of you in the US we hope to launch a vitamin D testing service through Lab Corp that allows you to have your vitamin D levels checked at your local blood drawing facility, and relatively inexpensively. We hope to offer this service by June 2009. If you are coming down with flu like symptoms and have not been on vitamin D you can take doses of 50,000 units a day for three days to treat the acute infection. Some researchers like Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1000 units per pound of body weight for three days.
However, most of Dr. Cannell's work was with seasonal and not pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that the vitamin D might not work. However the best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml.
BUT to keep this in perspective the regular flu, not the swine flu, has killed 13,000 in the US since January. But there is strong support that these types of figures are grossly exaggerated to increase vaccine sales. However, the fact remains that the regular flu at this point in time is FAR more dangerous than the swine flu and were you worried about the regular flu before the media started talking this up?
Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
Have Effective Tools to Address Stress . We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma. You can check out my free, 25-page EFT manual for some guidelines on how to perform EFT.
Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. You can review my exercise guidelines for some great tips on how to get started.
Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats like Krill Oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this -- antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
Eat Garlic Regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in the body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use. However, if you are allergic or don't enjoy garlic it would be best to avoid as it will likely cause more harm than good.
Click here to view References
1 World Health Organization, Epidemic and Pandemic Alert Response, Current WHO Phase of Pandemic Alert, http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html
2 Welt Online, April 28, 2009, http://www.welt.de/english-news/article3625539/Asian-countries-take-measures-against-outbreak.html
3 News.com.au, April 27, 2009, http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25392380-2,00.html
4 Emerging Infectious Diseases February 2009; 15(2):346-7, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?orig_db=PubMed&db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term="Emerging%20infectious%20diseases"[Jour]%20AND%202009[pdat]%20AND%20Klugman[author]
5 Esquire, April 26, 2009, http://www.esquire.com/features/best-n-brightest-2005/ESQ1205B&BEWALD_244?src=digg
6 CDC, Lightning-Associated Deaths 1980-1995, http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/PrevGuid/m0052833/m0052833.asp
7 NationMaster.com, Mortality--Lighting, http://www.nationmaster.com/red/pie/mor_vic_of_lig-mortality-victim-of-lightning
8 The Independent, April 26, 2009, http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/pandemic-fears-as-flu-kills-68-1674368.html
9 Reuters, April 26, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53P23920090426
10 Associated Press, April 27, 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hceWV2_Cu7yoSvw9iNYZ90-qnCyQD97R2FVG3
11 Infowars.net, April 27, 2009, http://www.infowars.net/articles/april2009/270409Baxter.htm
12 Online Journal, April 27, 2009 http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4631.shtml
13 FredrickNewsPost.com, April 22, 2009, http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=89293
14 The New York Times, April 26, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/27flu.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
15 Nature Precedings, hdl:10101/npre.2009.2832.1, Emergence and Fixing of Antiviral Resistance in Influenza A Via Recombination and Hitch Hiking, Henry L. Niman, http://precedings.nature.com/documents/2832/version/1
During the 1918 pandemic, the homeopathic hospitals in Ohio and in NYC had 0-1.5% death rates, versus 50% for allopathic hospitals. They used homeopathic gelsemium and occasionally byronia.
There are a number of herbal treatments available since antiviral herbs are more common than antiviral pharmaceuticals, and most of them work not only on the virus but also on the immune system. I have put up a Facebook group called Swine Flu and Herbalism where professional herbalists can answer questions and discuss potential treatments with the general public.
Some natural solutions to fight viruses, and to keep in your medicine cabinet:
1. Apple Cider Vinegar - vinegar is said to kill 99% of bacteria, 82% of mold and 80% of viruses. Bragg organic is an excellent brand, and is great for fending off colds and the flu. Some take it with honey.
2. Megadoses of Vitamin C - 2,000 mg a day has been recommended to boost the immune system. Dr. Linus Pauling (2x Nobel prize winner) said even 5000-10,000 mg is safe and effective.
3. Colloidal silver will kill most forms of bacteria and viruses. Check out Dr. Mercola's post on colloidal silver to learn more, as not all CS is created equal.
4. I like the idea of using herbalism and homeopathics if needed. I don't know what works, but the Facebook page above might provide some answers.
Similar statistics can be seen from the large chiropractic and osteopathic hospitals in the mid-west during 1918. Those who sought care in those 'alternative' hospitals had death rates of between 1 in 800 and 1 in 900, compared to the nation average of 1 in 17 infected. Just going to show that a healthier body free of interference will respond appropriately. I would take 0.1% deaths compared to 5.9% anyday of the week. Stick to natural means to improve immune function. Eat well (and eat raw garlic), exercise and visit your chiropractor, massage therapist and acupuncturist regularly!
Excellent idea having the Facebook group. I will check that out. So glad you included the information on homeopathy here as well. Using homeopathic Oscillococcinum or Influenzinum for prevention also has a good track record. People have also reported success in using those remedies for treatment at the first sign.
Elderberry is my favorite anti-viral since binds with viruses thus inhibiting them from crossing the cell membrane.
I am a RN in NW Ohio and have been looking for a homeopathic Dr./ hospital. How can I find them? We are required to ask every person admitted to the hospital if they have received their flu/pneumonia vaccine. Why the big push?
I was witness to the Baxter( produced) drug "Heperin" injuring and killing people here in the USA during 2008. A client of mine was using it. I was appalled when I addressed the issue with the local pharmacist, stating I had read about current batches having dangerous effects...should we return it? I was informed that there was no "recall" and if we wanted to give it over to them, we could, but it would not be replaced with a safe version. I called the FDA in WA state and they informed me of the deaths, and that NO RECALL had been activated because of the "small amount" of ppl being affected.
So, I reiterated this information to the FDA Rep clearly , saying, "You are telling me there is no mechanism to warn a person about a possibly deadly drug you have been sold unless it is officially "Recalled"? He confirmed that, yes - it's true. If there were a recall, then SOME pharmacies would contact their customers, but they were not required.
BUYER BEWARE
Just before the announcement that there were some batches of heperin that were contaminated I was hospitalized for a blood clot in my aorta "aortic disection" they called it. (the best I can do with spelling because I am a non-medical person). I am over 80 years old so they decided not to operate but to try to dissolve the blood clot with heperin. Goodness knows how much heperin ran throught my veins for 2 weeks. I have always wondered what the results of receiving contaminated heperin would be. I have really felt like the "dog's dinner" since that time. Do you know where I could find how the health of people who managed to live through the heperin treatment was? Was heperin recalled?
Thanks for any information.
Interesting thing with Baxter Labs. Three weeks ago, a Baxter lab in Austria was discoverd with Avian Flu in a new batch of flu vaccines! The story was submitted to the NY Times and Washington Post, both of which said this story did not rise to the level of newsworthy. Something's rotten when an SB3 lab means cross-contamination is impossible, unless there was a blatant violation of protocols or an intentional experimentation or eugenicidal maniac overseeing the lab.
On another note, 4 Thieve's cider is an excellent idea. This can be sprayed on the skin after showering. This should make us wonder why the mania over "alkalyzing the body" is so rampant when it is so incorrect! Every system has a different pH, some systems are intended to be acidic for optimal enzyme process, while others are more alkaline. But the skin should be more acidic.
Now, for a nasty innuendo. Verichip wants to chip the public subdermally. Battery power has been a problem, but that can be solved when the chip uses the body as an alkaline battery. Just think of the battery ionization fits the chip will get when one is more acidic! Satellite tracking will be perhaps more scrambled, or the transmit/receive won't work so well.
My Mr was on that heparin for several days because of heart surgery. Every day he kept getting sicker and on the last day of the prescription it came out in the news that it was tainted so he didn't finish it. He started recovering as soon as he stopped taking it. We were never notified by the pharmacy, we had to check it out on the internet ourselves. Its criminal that these pharmaceutical companies can get away with this sort of thing.
I am a Microbiologist and I love this site! My colleague and I are both skeptical about this outbreak. I have been waiting for this masterpiece of an article. Thank you Dr. Mercola! I kept coming to the site and typing "swine flu" into the search engine for 2 days....finallly, my reward! Many Mahalos from Hawaii. Aloha.
I think that is definitely a FACT...Courtesy of our Government and Big Pharma. Why else would we have a flu outbreak in non-flu season, just about the time government is working on 'healthcare reform'. I fely something was fishy from the start. Just this morning, I was reading an article from the Natural Solutions Foundation that stated they thought this was a man-made pandemic.
It said...The Mexican Swine Flu has elements of DNA from the following: avian flu, human flu Type A, human flu Type B, Asian swine flu, and European swine flu. Human and animal viruses from four or more continents suddenly recombine in a new flu during a non-flu season that spreads from human-to-human with a 10% fatality rating.
It sounds engineered to me. The makers of Tamiflu stand to make lots of money on this dispite the dangers posed to the human beings that are given this vaccine.
I live in Central California. There have been outbreaks from the South end of the state to the North end of us. Last night, the local news reported a possible positive testing of a child in a town just 10 miles from us, although the health department had not confimed it yet. I have not yet watched any news today.
Some of the other recent flu virus infections seem to have be much more damaging, yet very little attention was paid to them by the media. Why is this time different? Why induce the panic when it is usualy the governments number one job to control panic? Something is very fishy here. . . .oops I mean piggly/birdly/manly.
This is for TONELOPEA who requested friendship with me: I am sorry, I don't make "friends" with ANYONE I don't know over the internet, in the interest of self protection, as well as time, but I do want to answer your question. So, I am posting your question and my response here:
Your questions: "Since you are involved in the biological/health science industry. I was wondering if you could direct me to some site/journals/resources that shares true information regarding medications, vaccines, etc. Thanks!"
I don't know what you mean by "true information regarding medications, vaccines, etc."
Are you referring to conventional medicine? Big Pharma funded university research? I am not sure of the nature of your question.
I would like to say that living in Hawaii for 18 years has taught me the value in having an open mind to both eastern and and western medicine, therefore alternative medicine. The Queen's Hospital, our main research hosptical, even empraces this concept in the cancer research area. Any extreme in thought is not good for us. So I am sort of middle of the road, using my brain, training, and experience to guide me in evaluating the information I read.
I would also like to add that all scientists are bias, including me, Dr. Mercola, and any that are human! I think that Dr. Mercola has a lot of valuable information to offer, although I do not agree with all of it. However, some of his advice has greatly improved my immune system and energy levels. However, I use my ashtma inhaler, even though he says it can kill. Well, I agree that is a possibility, but since asthma can kill too, I will take my chances and use the inhaler. I do agree with him that hospitals are breeding grounds to pick up an infection, especially MRSA. Dr. Mercola says to avoid the hospital unless you have an emergency, not to never go. I chose to have a major surgery in a doctor's office operating room (here in Hawaii, by an European MD) over a hospital b
to TONELOPEA continued,
I chose to have a major surgery in a doctor's office operating room (here in Hawaii, by an European MD) over a hospital because I knew it was a cleaner place and IV anesthesia is much easier on the body than being intubated and gased. I recovered in 1 week, versus the 3 weeks it takes hospital patients.
I also agree that vaccines are not safe, because of ingredients such as mercury, formaldehyde, etc. The purpose, of course, of injecting a weakened form of a virus is to prime the immune system for a secondary response (which is very quick and intense) in case of exposure to the fully viable form of the virus. However, I think it is counter productive to put mercury, formaldehyde, etc. into the vaccine because it is counterproductive to the original purpose.
I say this because mercury and formaldehyde will weaken the immune system and the nervous system. I have not had a flu shot in 5 years and I have not had the flu. Some may say, "that is herd immuntiy." My response is, "Where was the herd immunity when I was getting the shots???" I don't think the vaccine gave me the flu, I think it suppressed my immune system, making me more susceptible to the flu. I am a college instructor and am in contact with 100s of students each semester, yet I have not been infected with the flu in 5 years! That is incredible since I used to get it every year. Thus, I have concluded that I don't want mercury, formaldehyde, or any other chemical in the flu vaccine in my body so as to protect my immune system.
Some of the websites below may be technical. All of the journals I listed are technical.
Keep in mind that the research in peer-reviewed jounals is paid for by someone and it is not always an unbiased or source that doesn't have an interest in the outcome of the studies.
Websites (not any completely without bias or some type of influence...no one has ALL the answers, only God knows the real facts about any of the things we wonder about and try to learn about):
PubMEd Medline
Medscape
www.cdc.gov
http://www.nih.gov
http://www.asm.org/ (you have to be a working professional memeber for the ASM site)
http://www.pnas.org/
Below is a long list, but by no means exhaustive, of peer reviewed journals. These journals are very expensive and some require that you beling to professional organizations to subscribe. However, they may be found in your local University or Medical School library. You would not be able to check them out, as someone who is not a student or professor, but you would be able to look at them in the library.
The Lancet
American journal of immunology
Virology
International journal of immunopharmacology
Clinical and vaccine immunology
Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials
Antiviral research
Clinical microbiology and infection
European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases
Genetic vaccines and therapy
Immunology
International journal of hygiene and environmental health
Journal of virology
Nature
Applied biochemistry and microbiology
Applied microbiology
Archives of virology
ASM news
Cellular & molecular immunology
Cellular immunology
Cellular microbiology
Clinical and diagnostic virology
Clinical and experimental allergy
Vaccine
Aloha and Best Wishes
I forgot the website:
http://www.westonaprice.org/
The longer I live, the less I trust "modern medical science". The (so called) U.S. health care system is 100% profit motivated. As such, disease is a real money maker! There is simply no profit in keeping people healthy. Indeed a healthy patient, is no patient at all, and they know it. Make no mistake, keeping the population sick or in deathly fear of becoming terminally ill is the core of their livelihood.
Yes, vitamin D is great, and the best way to get that? ---> TAKE A WALK IN THE SUNSHINE.
Yes, exercise is great, and the best way to get that? ---> TAKE A WALK IN THE SUNSHINE.
Yes, relieving stress is important, and the best way to do that? ---> TAKE A WALK IN THE SUNSHINE.
Then come back in side and eat a hearty meal.
Screw the doctors! Live life with fearless enthusiasm. Enjoy the beauty unfolding everyday in a thousand ways around you. Help others. Do whatever you can to spread the joy. And take a walk in the sunshine. Then let's all fall on our knees and pray that the medical community will eventually come around to being the healers and care givers that they damn well should be!!!
"TAKE A WALK IN THE SUNSHINE"
We don't all have Sunshine to walk in !!!
This is a great visual and mental stimulator! Bumper stickers for all!! :>)
You are RIGHT ON, my friend!!Well, except for falling on my knees...ouch...! But I spend an hour or so a day counting my blessings and sending that joy out into creation. Einstein said that we cannot solve the problem in the consciousness that created it, so here is for evolving consciousness.
Thanks for your helpfulness, Joe. Trying to live a spiritual/natural life is especially hard when many around you are crazed, ignorant, crabby, envious, foolish, greedy or evil. I thank GOD for His wisdom and my brothers and sisters of like mindedness for their ever persistent sharing of the facts. Sunshine is a stronger "medicine" than many people realize. And, if but one person takes your advice, they will be better for it. I have heard it said that if you save one person you save the world. Blessings to you! Karen
Amen! you said it all so well....and you are full of sunshine...keep spreading it around!
You, sir, are the man.
Dr. M....
Was wating to hear your take on this mess. I worked for the State Dept. of Health during the 1976 Swine Flu Epidemic.....I was sent to innoculate the masses...I used an air gun and shot the vaccine into 1000's of people...and true to fact...the flu never came about.
Be careful, my fellow readers and understand as Dr. Mercola has stated...."Pharma" is in need of making lots of $$$$ and again at the cost of our lives. Don't let it happen...the only thing I'm going to spread is this vital informatiom. All of my clients will be hooked onto this web page.
Dr. Mercola, please keep us updated. Your info is critical in saving millions of lives.
Annieod2....HHC...IIN Grad
this is their plan, they sprayed the virus in Cancun first that is why infections occurred in people between ages of 25-45 (partying people) and then they did in Mexico city, if u ask me it is Bilderburg Group
www.youtube.com/watch
More likely protecting us, rather then killing us. No money to be made from dead people. Besides, who will be your servants when the population is gone. I do not see people in charge being so evil as to de-populate us in this manner. The easy route to de-population is to leave us alone, we can kill ourselves better then any microbe can.
@sobber - I really don't think they released swine flu into the air deliberately. I just think they're using this as a way to blow it out of proportion, distract us and make some money. Either way, though, they're wrong in what they're doing.