I received this article, written by Dr. Mercola and found it to be very helpful in clearing up some misconceptions. If you weren't aware of it--there was a Swine Flu panic back in 1976 when Gerald Ford was President. More people died from the resulting Swine Flu vaccine than the Swine Flu itself! Read on...
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 Monday April 27th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to four 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.
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:
- Fever of more than 100
- Coughing
- Runny nose and/or sore throat
- Joint aches
- Severe headache
- Vomiting and/or diarrhea
- Lethargy
- Lack of appetite
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".
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.
As of Monday April 27, the worldwide total number of confirmed cases was 82, according to WHO, which included 40 cases in the U.S., confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control. But does that truly warrant the feverish news headlines?
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.
To read more of the article:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx
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Comments: 37
Hugs and blessings - S.
The 1918 flu killed over 50 million humans, fact. Not saying this one will do the same, but it is not impossible. We think the world has changed in the intervening 90 years, uh huh, but flu is still flu. Better to be safe than sorry, unwise to see conspiracies everywhere when faced with a potential high mortality event. The flu is the threat, not the drug company. I am a bit baffled by the high number of posts here on gather that discount the threat of the virus simply because it has "Swine" in the name (I wish we could change the name, people are so stupid) and because the media are hyping the threat. The media like to sell products, but that does not mean the threat is imaginary.
I can remember back in the 1980s, don't worry about AIDS, it only kills gay people. Really, that was the mindset.
Remember to wash your hands with warm water and soap. Often during the day.
Wash your hands more.
Use hand sanitizer.
Work in an office wipe down your phone.
Wash your hands.
Nose sprays help keep germs and bacteria away .... called a nasal wash!
Wash Hands.
Stay away from crowded areas.
Wash Hands.
Use bacterial wipes on counters and desks.
Wash Hands.
Use hand sanitizer.
As part of a susceptable group I do these things more than normal when a possible flu is heading my way.
www.ownyourhealth.wordpress.com.
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D.
I have never had the flu in my life, nor have I had a flu vaccine. I am not really worried about this 'pandemic.'
I get the feeling that it is more of a gvt exersize than a something us real people really have to worry about all that much. Me thinks there will be a real nasty contagous desease thing in my lifetime, outside of Aids wich is real bad, but me thinks this ain't it.
I sort of think that the velocity of the flu will increase during the late fall and winter because we all closer together. By that time the analyists figure out how to deal, like vaccine and anti viral medication. If it is a mover (velocity) most of us going to loose days feeling crummy but that about it.
This is not the first outbreak of 'summer flu' - and it certainly won't be the last. It's the panic whipped up by the press that makes this one worse. I suspect that most westernised countries will get off lightly, no matter how bad the 'pandemic'.
The early 1900s when 'Spanish flu' (actually started in some training camp for trainee soldiers for WWI in the USA - but no-one noticed it until the King of Spain became ill!) wiped out countless millions will not return simply because better hygiene, diet etc means the targeted groups are better prepared to withstand it.
I agree with Sue B. The article itself is balanced and measured ...
Not sure I agree entirely with your conclusions, but I don't disagree entirely either; and in any case, the article is good.
Mmmm.... are you sure everyone you know practices "good hygiene and manners"?
I wash my hands so often normally I think my fingernails are gonna fall off; but some people, well, some people are quite lax even though they have been told since they were toddlers to wash their hands after using the toilet and to use a tissue or cover their mouth when they sneeze.
You may not need to reminder, but because there are others in the world who do need the reminder, it's best you keep on remembering to wash yours. Sooooo .... the reminder for you is not that you should wash your hands, since you already have learned that lessen. The reminder for you is that not everyone else does "remember" to wash their hands after using the bathroom, touching their noses, touching their mouths, shaking hands, visiting a sick friend ... or at all.
I understand your frustration ... seems like a big deal was being made of this -- getting us all on edge -- but no one really did anything constructive about it except tell us to wash our hands and "watch" for people already showing symptoms at the border. How about oh, closing the border temporarily until the threat had passed?
If one more person tells me that washing my hands is going to prevent me from getting the flu, I am going to go ballistic.
Prevent? I guess there are different factors involved that determine whether one 'gets' it or not; but washing one's hands more often is not that onerous and could be preventative, especially if one hangs out with other people who don't remember to wash as often as you do.
If one more person tells me that washing my hands is going to prevent me from getting the flu, I am going to go ballistic. I couldn't stop laughing at my employer's newsletter that advised staying home if you don't feel well. WTF? People, we know washing our hands and covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze is good hygiene and manners. Why people think a reminder is necessary is beyond me. Face it, if there is a flu epidemic, either you're going to survive it or you won't.
EM JAY ???? W., Apr 30, 2009, 12:19am EDT
Anyway, good advice and information.
Then there is the assumption, i.e., water is clean, basic soap kills germs(virus?????), that hand towel is really sterile and people really know how to wash their hands properly in the first place!! In fact, we are told to wash our hands after we use the "facilities". I think that is backwards. We should wash our hands before and after, for obvious reasons.
Folks, let's just be a little more rational here. Wouldn't fortifying our immune system be a much more realistic approach to keeping healthy in these most unhealthy times? I mean, the "washing your hands" thing is so laughable it is ridiculous. There is an assumption being made with these directions (actually, there are many). Americans seem to see the world through a narrow lens, they do not even realize that this prescription may not apply to the poor, the homeless, the mentally challenged or your basic Joe Blow who doesn't have a clue. It is hard for me to continue reading, hearing, seeing people panic, intelligent people, educated people, people who should really have common sense.
Thank you for posting this article, I really appreciated it.
I'm not in panic mode. Washing hands can't hurt. And I hadn't heard the virus is air borne. The last I heard it's spread by droplets. Sneezes --- hand across the nose -- in the hand after a cough. And all the other places that hand may touch etc. As you say there are plenty of "exceptions" where washing hands won't prevent. But, as I said, it can't hurt.
But Charles, yours was sort of backhanded saying that you can count on one hand the times I have been "right" about something. Right? Why not just say that you and I have "agreed" on something. I don't think that either of us can say that we are right all the time. We all have perspectives. But thanks anyway for stopping by and commenting.
1 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 23:30 GMT, 1 May 2009, 13 countries have officially reported 367 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.
The United States Government has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Mexico has reported 156 confirmed human cases of infection, including nine deaths.
The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), China, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region (1), Denmark (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (8).
There is also a calm and fact filled report from the head of WHO explaining why they are raising the alert level to 5 and stating that we are really in a much better place world wide than we were in the seventies with two effective and tested medications at the ready. He also points out that while advanced countries may show mostly mild symptoms and few if any deaths, third world countries are not so lucky.
I think we will all rest better if we use our computers to go to the WHO update pages rather than listening the the MSM screaming and wringing their hands. After all, they are just trying to boost ratings and get more ad money. Listening to them is as silly as listening to those who poo-poo the idea that we need to be aware and be cautious.
Link to Who, sorry it's not clickable: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/updates/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_20090429/en/index.html
I went to the doctor today for a flu-like illness that has held on more days than I'm used to. I KNEW I didn't have swine flu because I was not running any fever at all but when my chest began to hurt when I breathed I went in because I have a history of pneumonia. I told this to both the nurse and the PA.
The PA preceeded to give me a lecture about being "worried about swine flu unnecessarily" and did only a cursery check of my ears, none of my throat or sinuses, and claimed that my lungs and bronchial tubes were "perfectly clear" even though I could feel and hear the rasping. Tonight I'm coughing up bloody phlem.
Needless to say, I will be switching clinics. This is not the first time I've been dismissed and not heard because I'm over 65. But now I will have to pay extra to go to an urgent care center tomorrow.
Yes, but then, ANY flu or virus is easily passed from human to human, and is capable of killing humans! This swine flu IS a hype.
I just posted an article on this hype, and the newest fear mongers glory: The Mass. Martial Law Bill. The fear mongers are in hog heaven with this one! (Was that a pun? My kid will be so proud of me!)
Carla, this article was GREAT!
This is NOT fear mongering. My wife, daughter and myself all currently have the H1N1 virus and it is spreading around Salem, MA. In my family, it has been a hellacious illness. I can safely say in my 43 years, I have NEVER been this sick before. My wife has bad asthma and she has been having a LOT of trouble breathing. Don't listen to people telling you that this is nothing to worry about. I thought it was some exaggerated story too. Until we all caught it.
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm
Sorry to hear about you and your family, Mark. I hope that you all recover soon. I have problems with asthma too and have had flus that cause respiratory problems. It is miserable. So far, in the midwest, we have fortunately not seen much of this flu. Take care and feel better soon.