'Swine Flu' fizzling out? - NewsGrabs Saturday, 2 May 2009
The news are full of the "new epidemic", Mexican Swine Flu. But looking at that new influenza bug with some perspective, it seems that we may be falling for the hype another time. After SARS and the Bird Flu, is Swine Flu now destined to join the ranks of epidemics that 'almost were'? Here is another crop of articles and comment. As always - do your own research and form your own opinion.
Is Swine-flu Outbreak Linked to Smithfield Factory Farms?
Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site.On Friday, the U.S. disease-tracking blog Biosurveillance published a timeline of the outbreak containing this nugget, dated April 6 (major tip of the hat to Paula Hay, who alerted me to the Smithfield link on the Comfood listserv and has written about it on her blog, Peak Oil Entrepreneur):
Residents [of Perote] believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to “flu.” However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.
Regular flu has killed thousands since January
There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.
People are nervous about swine flu, but the regular flu kills 36,000 people a year in the United States.That one? The regular flu.
No fewer than 800 flu-related deaths were reported in any week between January 1 and April 18, the most recent week for which figures were available.
Seeking to put the swine flu outbreak in perspective Tuesday, Los Angeles County public health officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding echoed other public officials calling it "cause for concern, but not for alarm."
Swine Flu Worst Case Scenario: Computer Simulations
Large-scale computer simulations run by Northwestern University researchers show worst-case scenario projections of approximately 1,700 cases of swine flu for the entire United States four weeks from now.Mind you those are cases, not deaths. More and more, swine flu looks like a decidedly mild outbreak of the flu, rather than a pandemic. There is no comparison with the normal, seasonal flu, which according to the Centers for Disease Control, kills tens of thousands every year.
SWINE FLU: PIG IN A POKE
The test is done with a swab from the throat or nose. That material is then analyzed with very sophisticated methods. The centerpiece of the method is the PCR. It is a test in which VERY tiny bits of genetic substance are amplified, blown up tremendously, in order to be able to see what is there.What IS there? Fragments of a pig virus? Fragments of a bird virus? Fragments of more common human flu viruses? That's what the CDC and WHO are telling us. All of the above.
Does this mean all these blown-up fragments are part of a SINGLE VIRUS, A COMPLETE VIRUS? Does this mean these fragments are all locked together?
Swine flu virus starting to look less threatening
The swine flu virus that has frightened the world is beginning to look a little less ominous. New York City officials reported Friday that the swine flu still has not spread beyond a few schools. In Mexico, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught the virus.
WHO to stop using term 'swine flu' to protect pigs
The World Health Organization announced Thursday it will would stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu.WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency had expressed concerns that the term "swine flu" was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to ban pork products and order the slaughter of pigs.
"Rather than calling this swine flu … we're going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A," Thompson said.
Swine Flu Virus: CDC Recommendations Questioned
Intense media coverage of the swine flu has driven a pandemic wave of fear across our nation and world. Following the CDC's recommendations, people with a cough or a cold are staying home from work, some paralyzed by fear that they might die in the impending pandemic being predicted by newspapers and TV news programs around the world. Yet what or who is really behind the swine flu and this pandemic of fear? And why is the CDC recommending Tamiflu for prevention and treatment when it's use with avian and other flus has been found to be ineffective in numerous studies? And most important, what can we do about it?
Fever Cures Swine Flu!
Only a small minority of people develop serious flu complications, such as pneumonia -which is the actual cause of most Swine Flu deaths. The mortality arises because a small percentage of influenza cases go badly wrong. Instead of clearing up in weeks, they leave the patients possibly dead in weeks. Why does this happen?What's the first thing we do in cases of colds and flu? We medicate with over-the-counter analgesics. The most popular analgesics, including aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen, suppress production of antibodies and on average they deplete the immune response by a staggering 50 percent. Among other effects, aspirin uncouples oxidative phosphorylation; inhibits short-chain fatty acid oxidation; lowers lymphocyte transformation and lowers interferon production in response to viral infection.
When we have infection, our bodies turn the temperature up. This undermines replication of bacteria and viruses which grow well at normal body temperatures, but not at the temperature of a fever. The immune system itself is also more efficient at this higher temperature.
To defeat flu, the body also lowers the bioavailability of certain minerals while switching to protein energy production to starve any bacteria of the sugar they would simply use to reproduce. That reduces the risk of a bacterial infection complications of a viral flu. Infections thrive on sugar.
So this is quite a sophisticated body-wide response. But doctors and the public won't leave fever alone. Why on earth lower the body temperature -when this is simply defeating the natural and effective response? Perhaps we should ban thermometers, because doctors, nurses and parents are far too fond of using them.
Homeopathy Successfully Treated Flu Epidemic of 1918
While the mortality rate of people treated with traditional medicine and drugs was 30 percent, those treated by homeopathic physicians had mortality rate of 1.05 percent. Of the fifteen hundred cases reported at the Homeopathic Medical Society of the District of Columbia there were only fifteen deaths. Recoveries in the National Homeopathic Hospital were 100%. In Ohio, of 1,000 cases of influenza, Dr. T. A. McCann, MD, Dayton, Ohio reported NO DEATHS.
Swine flu 2009: hog hype or global threat?
so far in the USA, the US Government has reported 109 confirmed cases of swine flu, with just a single death. Mexico has reported just nine deaths, and 156 confirmed cases. Sixty six further cases have been reported in a further nine countries—with no deaths. None.On this basis, surely one cannot claim that this strain is a massive threat, when it is clearly responsible for considerably less death than the common and garden influenza A….?
Fortunately, if you listen to those who are a little more in the know than the rabid media channels, you'll find experts like Professor Wendy Barclay, chair of influenza virology at Imperial College London, quietly referring to this recent bout as a "mild strain" and "of no particular concern".
Folic acid may help treat allergies, asthma
In what is believed to be the first study in humans examining the link between blood levels of folate - the naturally occurring form of folic acid — and allergies, the Hopkins scientists say results add to mounting evidence that folate can help regulate inflammation. Recent studies, including research from Hopkins, have found a link between folate levels and inflammation-mediated diseases, including heart disease."Our findings are a clear indication that folic acid may indeed help regulate immune response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms," says lead investigator Elizabeth Matsui, M.D. M.H.S., pediatric allergist at Hopkins Children's. "But we still need to figure out the exact mechanism behind it, and to do so we need studies that follow people receiving treatment with folic acid, before we even consider supplementation with folic acid to treat or prevent allergies and asthma."
Doubts over mandatory folic acid fortification
Findings of a new Chilean study published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, led by Dr Sandra Hirsch, have provided further temporal evidence that a synthetic folic acid fortification is associated in time with an additional risk of colon cancer.Researchers at Tufts University had studied trends in colorectal cancer from 1986 to 2002 in the US and Canada, and published their findings in the July 2007 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. The Harvard Women’s Health Watch article tells us that these showed "a 15-year decline that was suddenly reversed in the early fortification years, when average blood levels of folate doubled. As a result, an extra four to six cases of colorectal cancer per 100,000 people per year — a total of 16,500 extra cases — were estimated to have occurred".
So it certainly looks to us as if mandatory folic acid fortification may not be appropriate for everyone! Whether appropriate or not, it seems all wrong that people are being denied choice in this! Fortification with the food form (5-MTHF) would make more sense, but this might be considered too expensive.
Cod liver oil capsules 'can cut chances of suffering heart failure'
The findings, published in the European Heart Journal, show that men who ate oily fish at least once a week were 12 per cent less likely to develop heart failure than men who did not.Those who took a 0.36 gram capsule of cod liver oil a day, sold for as little as 5p in high street shops, or other fish oils containing Omega-3 fatty acids, were 33 per cent less likely to develop the condition.
That's better than statin drugs, which are documented to lower cholesterol levels but not necessarily heart failure rates... and it's a lot cheaper, without the horrible side effects.
Low blood levels of magnesium may increase stroke risk by 25 per cent
"Dietary magnesium intake was marginally inversely associated with the incidence of ischemic stroke," wrote Folsom and his co-workers."Low serum magnesium levels could be associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke, in part, via effects on hypertension and diabetes," they concluded.
Epsom Salt Baths for Magnesium
(link from stephentvedten.blogspot.com - blog censored by Blogger. Check out his other site at http://www.stephentvedten.com/ )
Many people are deficient in magnesium, and by simply soaking in a relaxing bath with magnesium-rich Epsom salt we can boost our levels of this important element. Magnesium is the second-most abundant element in human cells and the fourth-most important positively charged ion in the body. Magnesium - the key component of Epsom Salt -- performs more functions in more systems of the human body than virtually any other mineral.Magnesium is an electrolyte, helping to ensure proper muscle, nerve and enzyme function. Magnesium is critical to the proper use of calcium in cells and it is an aid in helping to prevent heart disease and strokes by lowering blood pressure, protecting the elasticity of arteries, preventing blood clots and reducing the risk of sudden heart attack deaths. Magnesium also helps the body regulate over 325 enzymes, helps ease stress and improves sleep and concentration, plays an important role in organizing many bodily functions, like muscle control, helps regulate electrical...
Two Common Pesticides May Increase Parkinson's Risk
The scientists found that people who live within 500 meters of a field sprayed with the pesticides maneb and paraquat in combination, but not individually, had a 75 percent higher risk of Parkinson's disease relative to controls. Being exposed to the mixture at a younger age resulted in an even higher risk. Individuals potentially exposed to these pesticides when they were 60 years old or younger were 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Global Lindane Ban Now Possible
(link from stephentvedten.blogspot.com - blog censored by Blogger. Check out his other site at http://www.stephentvedten.com/ )
Some very good news to report. The US has changed its position on lindane, and at next week's Stockholm Convention meeting in Geneva they will support listing of lindane for global phaseout without calling for an exemption for pharmaceutical use (shampoos and lotions to control lice and scabies).Wikipedia: Lindane is a neurotoxin that interferes with GABA neurotransmitter function by interacting with the GABAA receptor-chloride channel complex at the picrotoxin binding site. In humans, lindane primarily affects the nervous system, liver and kidneys, and may be a carcinogen and/or endocrine disruptor.
Honeybee Collapse Strikes Japan, Up to Fifty Percent of Honeybees Gone
For the first time, Japan has been hit with a large-scale collapse of honeybee populations like that experienced in other countries around the world."There have been small-scale honeybee losses for many years, but a massive collapse like they had in the U.S. is very unusual," said Kiyoshi Kimura of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science. "We must investigate the situation in Japan."
US - New Mother’s Mandated Mental Health Test passed House of Representatives
A sweeping government policy for all new births in the United States has just passed the House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate. The Mother’s Act, if passed, will mandate that all new mothers be screened by means of a list of subjective questions that will determine if each mother is mentally fit to take their newborn home from the hospital.
The Mothers Act Disease Mongering Campaign
The customer base the psycho-pharmaceutical industry is hoping to corral through passage of the Mothers Act is the more than four million women who give birth in the US each year. That number was 4,317,119 in 2007, according to the CDC.The Act's passage, after eight years of solid efforts, would set the stage for the screening of all pregnant women for a whole list of mental disorders. The bill has already passed in the US House of Representatives and will soon be up for a vote in the Senate.
The definition section of the Act specifically states that the term "postpartum condition" means "postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis." There is not one word about perinatal "mood" or "anxiety" disorders in the bill.
Chantix Sales Crash
First quarter sales of Pfizer's stop smoking drug Chantix were down 36 percent from the same period last year to $177 million. Of course, this is being driven by reports that the drug caused suicidal ideation (and actual suicides) in some cases. It's interesting that the public paid so much attention to this in regards to a smoking drug but not nearly as much with anti-depressants.
10 Percent Of Depressed Patients Now Take Antipsychotics
Over 10 percent of Americans now take an atypical antipsychotic for depression, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb. Much of that prescribing has got to be off-label as Abilify is the only approved antipsychotic for the condition.Forget about Prozac Nation, this is Atypical Nation. Think I'm joking? Antipsychotics are now the top revenue producing class of drugs, topping even statins.
After 7-year-old's suicide, officials order look at drug use of other Florida foster children
"It is difficult for any of us to comprehend how a child so young could have deliberately and consciously made the decision to end his life," DCF Secretary George Sheldon said. "But in order to help prevent this type of tragedy from happening again, it is critical we review all available information to determine the factors that led to Gabriel's death."Four weeks before his suicide, Gabriel was prescribed Symbyax, which is a combination of the generic forms of the anti-depressant Prozac and the anti-psychosis drug Zyprexa. He already had been taking Vyvanse, a drug to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
The Dark Side Of CFLs
Consider this - instead of saving the environment, CFLs are actually destroying it. CFLs should be thought of as toxic technology, when mercury contamination, ultraviolet radiation, and radio frequency radiation are factored in. From cradle to grave, CFLs pose a danger to people’s health and well being, as well as adding even more toxicity to the environment. In fact, CFLs do not reduce a person’s carbon footprint and may even increase it in some situations. To make matters even worse, CFLs emit harmful levels of electromagnetic radiation.
Holland: Doctors issue an appeal against radiation risks (PDF)
On 8 April 2009, 50 Dutch medical doctors presented an appeal to political leaders and government health authorities in The Hague. On the basis of their experience and observations, they call for measures to be taken to minimise exposure to artificial radiation from electromagnetic fields. The signatories note a general increase in serious medical conditions of unidentified origin. This increase in health problems and illness parallels the explosive increase in exposure to radiation from electromagnetic fields in the environment.- - -
More information out there...
There is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.
...
Dr Mercola's health blog, Mike Adams' Natural News and the One Click Group in the UK have good health information. The Dr Rath Foundation is also putting out a weekly collection of health related news. Here is the link to their Newsletter Archive.
The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group and the healthfreedom ning group are places to discuss and exchange information on what is happening in the world of natural health.
For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emr-updates group on Yahoo. Genetic modification and issues around agriculture and foods are reported on the Organic Consumers Association site.
A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:
http://therealnews.com/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.truthout.org/The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Saturday May 2 2009
updated on Wednesday August 15 2012URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2009/05/02/swine_flu_fizzling_out_newsgrabs_saturday_2_may_2009.htm