“All of humanity is under threat.” That’s what I heard on the news tonight. I did everything I could to not just laugh. I have been inundated with phone calls and e-mails about what to do about this swine flu PANDEMIC. This is ridiculous. Let’s not let fear take over and let’s use some logic for a minute. Fear only exists where education and understanding doesn’t exist. Fear makes smart people do stupid things, like what they did in Egypt today. The Egyptian government began slaughtering pigs today as a preventative measure to stop the spread of the swine flu. Over 300,000 pigs were to be killed immediately despite no reported cases of the pandemic in the country. Take a deep breath. This is about sensationalism in the media and honestly, all I can do is shake my head.
SWINE FLU MYTHS
The swine flu is more contagious and deadly than the “regular” flu.
It has the same rate of death risk than any other flu or virus. How many times have you had the flu and gone to your MD and they simply told you that you had the flu? Did they EVER take a culture and have it tested in the laboratory? Probably not. The flu is the flu…whether it be swine, human or avian.
In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
Oddly enough, and really think about this one – according to Wikipedia:
This outbreak in humans is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that derives in part from human influenza, avian influenza, and two separate strains of swine influenza. The origins of this new strain are unknown, and the World Organization for Animal Health reports that it has not been isolated in swine. It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation. The strain in most cases causes only mild symptoms and the infected person makes a full recovery without requiring medical attention and without the use of antiviral medicines.
So, let me get this straight, this new flu virus contains 4 different strains of THREE different species??? How on earth did that happen? If you have taken ANY microbiology, you’d see that perhaps a laboratory might be involved. I know that sounds kooky, but really??? This is nearly impossible, if not completely naturally impossible!
As well as persisting in pigs, the descendants of the 1918 virus have also circulated in humans through the 20th century, contributing to the normal seasonal epidemics of influenza. However, direct transmission from pigs to humans is rare, with 12 cases in the U.S. since 2005.
In 1957, an Asian flu pandemic infected some 45 million Americans and killed 70,000 (0.155% died). Eleven years later, lasting from 1968 to 1969, the Hong Kong flu pandemic afflicted 50 million Americans and caused 33,000 deaths (0.066% died). In 1976, about 500 soldiers became infected with swine flu over a period of a few weeks. However, by the end of the month investigators found that the virus had “mysteriously disappeared”, and there were no more signs of swine flu anywhere on the post (0% died). There were isolated cases around the U.S., but those cases were supposedly to individuals who caught the virus from pigs. And most recently, in the 1988 “epidemic
A few years back, the media tried to scare everyone with a pandemic of avian flu and no one reacted.
Consider that Baxter Pharmaceuticals “accidentally” contaminated shipments of seasonal flu vaccines to 18 countries with live Avian Flu virus. If that “mistake” (how did that live virus get into the very secure vaccine factory?) had not been discovered, there would already be an Avian Flu pandemic… so now, having failed, we get the Swine Flu “incident…”
In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalized for pneumonia and died eight days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected (because it was actually tested because the woman DIED). Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.
In follow-up studies, 76% of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection from testing, but no other deaths, including her husband who recovered.
An outbreak means many of people will die and a pandemic means millions will die.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) defines as an outbreak as TWO or more infections from the same source. TWO. TWO. When people think of and outbreak, they think of hundreds or thousands. How many of you have gotten sick after a flight? Well, if it were reported, it probably would be an epidemic! Just like Barbara Ann Wieners and her husband who contracted the swine flu from pigs are now known as the 1988 Swine Flu Epidemic. TWO or more infections from the same source.
PANDEMIC is a very scary word, if you have no idea what it really means. It means that this virus is found in a larger regional area. With all of our international travel, this is not a big surprise that diseases spread more easily.
This does NOT mean people will die from the swine flu, anymore than from our usual influenza A.
Eating pork products could make me sick and possibly get the swine flu.
You can not get swine flu from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products are safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus, as it does other bacteria and viruses. I actually ate bacon today at RJ’s Café in Dana Point and we are still alive. By the way, I love their Feta Avocado Scramble with well done potatoes. Take a breath and go to breakfast…and tell RJ that I sent you.
I should get the vaccine for the swine flu, so I don’t catch it.
Sure. Go ahead. Be another person who gets a flu vaccine and then gets the flu FROM the vaccine, and then your MD can reassure you that the flu you acquired from the vaccine is much more mild. Oh, and don’t worry about the aluminum and mercury that was just injected into your body without much, if any research. Let me know in 20 years how that’s working for you.
On April 14th, the first case of swine flu showed up and they already have a vaccine for it??? That’s a bit suspect. Viruses mutate, so how could they get the virus and make even one batch of this swine flu vaccine when it takes a MINIMUM of 4 months to make?
How is it that we already have a vaccine for healthcare workers (some of whom have reportedly died from the vaccine), but all you terrified people have to wait until September for your swine flu vaccine?
I don’t have make this stuff up people. Why was THIS not on the news, but Octamom won’t go away???? Here’s some financial advice. Invest in the company who is manufacturing the swine flu vaccine, since not everyone is going to be as smart as you. 😉 I wish I had invested in statin drugs before the once-normal cholesterol values were lowered cholesterol 20 points, which caused 64 million people to suddenly NEED cholesterol drugs.
Taking the anti-viral drugs will protect me from the swine flu and it’s perfectly safe, since it’s FDA approved.
FDA approval is a scary thing. I won’t even rant on that one right now. The only thing that really makes a huge difference is KEEPING your immune system up. Aside from the terribly obvious like washing your hands, coughing into a napkin, etc…
I give Immuplex from Standard Process for viruses. Oscillococcinum is a homeopathic for viruses…especially the flu. It wouldn’t hurt to have some Oscillococcinum on hand and take 1 dose each week until this ridiculous drama is over. If you get ANY flu-like symptoms, Immuplex is great at fighting it off. Decreasing (or better yet, stopping) all sugar and anything else that suppresses the immune system would be a great proactive idea. Vitamin C with bioflavinoids can help to keep your immune system up. And don’t let me forget that getting adjusted by your wonderful chiropractor 😉 is a HUGE bonus that most of you reading this are already benefitting from.
My medical doctor told me that chiropractic is not for swine flu, but for low back pain.
Really? The 1918 influenza pandemic has been labeled in history as one of the most devastating outbreaks in the history of the world with deaths estimated at between 20 and 40 million people. Over 675,000 American citizens lost their lives due to this epidemic. Why are we talking about this?
In Davenport, Iowa in 1918:
50 medical doctors treated 4,953 cases, with 274 deaths.
150 chiropractors cared for 1,635 cases with 1 death.
In the same state, Iowa:
Medical doctors treated 93,590 patients, with 6,116 deaths – a loss of 1 patient out of every 15.
Chiropractors cared for 4,735 patients with 6 deaths – a loss of 1 patient out of every 789.
1918 National figures show :
1,142 chiropractors treated 46,394 patients with a loss of 54 patients – 1 out of every 859.
Yes, the medical profession was seeing a majority of the worst of the worst; however, one of the greatest statistics backing chiropractic care comes from the state of Oklahoma. In addition to chiropractors treating 3,490 cases of influenza with only 7 deaths, chiropractors were called in to treat 233 cases where medical doctors had treated the patients and pronounced them as “lost” or beyond hope … Chiropractors took care of all 233 with only 25 deaths.
In the same epidemic, New York health authorities (who kept records of flu as a reportable disease) showed that under chiropractic care, only 25 patients died of influenza out of every 10,000 cases; and only 100 patients died of pneumonia out of every 10,000 cases.
“Through research, we know that chiropractic has beneficial effects on immunoglobulins, B‑lymphocytes (white blood cells), pulmonary function and other immune system processes,” noted Dr. McCoy.
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