What Is The Truth About The H1n1 Flu?

[Guest Sundancefisher]

A doctor I know said the death rate for the H1N1 is half that of the normal flu. Then the media said it is the second coming of the Spanish flu.

 

I am not against shots but I wonder whether giving everyone shots is just some test run for the government to see how everyone could be treated for a pandemic. I don't like being part of an experiment but if push comes to shove...because I run the C-Train gauntlet every day...I would get the shot to hopefully protect the family at home. I have not had the flu in like forever...and stopped getting the regular flu shot about 7 years ago.

 

Is natural immunity in the population better than artificial immunity? Does the body need to get sick once in a while to be able to respond to an illness? These are questions for a health care professional and probably a research scientist...but...gezz...seems like the global warming alarmists stopped talking and the swine flu alarmists are going full bore in their place.

 

What is fact, what is fiction, what is going on.

 

Latest news says that kids are dying faster than any other flu with is contrary to the notion that the flu is not as bad. Are the people that are dying have an underlying condition for the most part? Some are not getting help fast enough if they get severely ill? Are perfectly healthy kids dying?

 

Scary times...

[dryfly]

It is a moving target. One suspects no agency knows for sure and the media has created a lot of hype..that seems to be their job, eh?

 

At the moment, the case seems to be overstated (i.e. relatively very few deaths globally), yet one assumes it has the potential of getting out of hand fast. Who knows? I've not had a flu shot for years. Am considering it this season. Not sure.

 

I've been using hand sanitizer for years (a wee bit paranoid. .. learned to be that way during my dozen trips to China) and friends used to laff at my hand cleaning. Guess who uses the stuff now?

 

I was in China at the peak of SARS and sometimes wore cheap paper face masks..especially on planes. They offer little or no protection from virus-laden body aerosals, but they sure stop you from touching your face and mouth. You don't realize how often you touch your mouth until you put on a small paper face mask. I digress.

 

This morning, I was feeling a tad off myself ...

 

[Highlander]

H1N1 does not appear to be as severe as other flu bugs in the past, however I read somewhere that it is expected that 1/3 of the population will get it.

 

I don't know how easily the virus mutates, but I thought that the viruses generally (but not always)originate in SE Asia where waterfowl, pigs and humans are in close contact. I don't know if there are a number of variations of the H1N1 virus going around with some more virulent than others.

 

A vaccination may or may not prevent you from getting it, but if you do, the severity is likely to be much less.

[Castuserraticus]

See mercola.com for lots of info and stats on the flu adn vaccines. He's a bit sensational but does publicize a lot of studies.

[kipper]

I don't think there are any doctors around here that are qualified to state that this flu isn't as bad as the regular virus has been. The fact that this virus has killed over 4,000 people in the last year and they certainly were all not young or old or were immunity deficient... should indicate this is not your average virus! At the place I work at we have been preparing for this winter since last February..- I was fitted for a respirator mask 2 weeks ago and we have had procedures in place to deal with anyone even suspected of having a flu bug. And don't you think it is somewhat strange that last winter/spring when WHO first announced the pandemic in Mexico that the Canadian government issued a statement that "we have enough vaccine available to give to every man, women and child in Canada" and the States announced that they only had enough stockpiled for about 1/4 of their population..all of a sudden Canada doesn't have enough ready and it will be next month before they start immunizing with the H1N1 vaccine - WTF is up with that! I think that everyone should be cautious in thinking this isn't serious and everyone should be a little worried..and for everyone else's sake get your damned flu shot!! - even if you don't care about yourself!

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I don't think there are any doctors around here that are qualified to state that this flu isn't as bad as the regular virus has been. The fact that this virus has killed over 4,000 people in the last year and they certainly were all not young or old or were immunity deficient... should indicate this is not your average virus! At the place I work at we have been preparing for this winter since last February..- I was fitted for a respirator mask 2 weeks ago and we have had procedures in place to deal with anyone even suspected of having a flu bug. And don't you think it is somewhat strange that last winter/spring when WHO first announced the pandemic in Mexico that the Canadian government issued a statement that "we have enough vaccine available to give to every man, women and child in Canada" and the States announced that they only had enough stockpiled for about 1/4 of their population..all of a sudden Canada doesn't have enough ready and it will be next month before they start immunizing with the H1N1 vaccine - WTF is up with that! I think that everyone should be cautious in thinking this isn't serious and everyone should be a little worried..and for everyone else's sake get your damned flu shot!! - even if you don't care about yourself!

 

This is a quote from WHO

 

"The new influenza A(H1N1) appears to be as contagious as seasonal influenza, and is spreading fast particularly among young people (from ages 10 to 45). The severity of the disease ranges from very mild symptoms to severe illnesses that can result in death. The majority of people who contract the virus experience the milder disease and recover without antiviral treatment or medical care. Of the more serious cases, more than half of hospitalized people had underlying health conditions or weak immune systems."

 

I am curious as to who is profitting from world wide sales and distribution of the vaccine...

 

I think the biggest issue is that this flu is new. Therefore there may be some unknowns insofar as mutations and long term viability in the human population.

[rehsifylf]

The fact hat this virus has killed over 4,000 people in the last year and they certainly were all not young or old or were immunity deficient... should indicate this is not your average virus!

 

The Spanish Flu is estimated to have killed between 50-100 Million in just over 2 years of which half were in the first 25 weeks. Hep B kills 600K people per year. 55 000 people die of rabies each year. A 'normal' flu season leads to 250-300K deaths.

 

I admit I'm ignorant on H1N1, but it just doesn't seem to be as big a deal as reports have suggested.

[firefrog]

Hello

Interesting circus show. I remember Y2K and West Nile. Our governments spent a lot of money on these.

Now, I don't know how dangerous H1N1 is. But I do know more people die from auto accidents and cancer (probably bee stings and allergies too - just guessing here). I don't see the fanfare to reduce the toll of these tragedies. Why do we accept these things as not-so-unusual or fact-of-life? Human nature, I guess. I'll never be able to figure out the things people get upset about (myself included). I HAVE figured out that wherever there is publicity, there are people making money. What a shame....... in this case.

I know.......... aren't I just a ray of sunshine.

Cheers

 

 

[Crowsnest]

I admit I'm ignorant on H1N1, but it just doesn't seem to be as big a deal as reports have suggested.

 

x2

[headscan]

The truth about H1N1 is that they're sensationalizing it to convince everyone to get the vaccine. That's their cover to inject the tracking chips in everyone. Fortunately a good tin foil hat will block the signal.

 

Seriously it's called cya. The media already made a huge deal out of it so if govts do nothing and a lot of people die they can kiss their reelection hopes goodbye.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

The truth about H1N1 is that they're sensationalizing it to convince everyone to get the vaccine. That's their cover to inject the tracking chips in everyone. Fortunately a good tin foil hat will block the signal.

 

Seriously it's called cya. The media already made a huge deal out of it so if govts do nothing and a lot of people die they can kiss their reelection hopes goodbye.

 

Do you guys think it is the media jumping on something they can dwell on and scare people into reading the papers and watching the news? In turn it like a snowball rolling downhill.

[Flytyer]

Do you guys think it is the media jumping on something they can dwell on and scare people into reading the papers and watching the news? In turn it like a snowball rolling downhill.

 

Yup, remember Y2K and the hype in the media abut it??? All blown out of whack

 

[dryfly]

"The fact hat this virus has killed over 4,000 people in the last year and they certainly were all not young or old or were immunity deficient... should indicate this is not your average virus!" Others have already addressed this. For those affected this is a so sad, but 4K worldwide is very (very) low.

 

Never to be trusted for accuracy, Wikipedia states: "Typically, in a year's normal two flu seasons (one per hemisphere), there are between three and five million cases of severe illness and up to 500,000 deaths worldwide..." One hundred times as many people die annually from "regular" flu compared to h1n1 in the past year.

 

"Do you guys think it is the media jumping on something they can dwell on and scare people into reading the papers and watching the news? In turn it like a snowball rolling downhill."

 

The mantra of MSM (mainstream media) is Goods news is no news. And bad news is good news.

 

I am tending to think swine flu is being over sold. Swine flu is tough to call because it is a virus and could get out of hand. Imagine if "the authorities" let it slide and it got out of hand. Oh my. Canadians will long carry the scar of the Red Cross Blood Scandal in which, "More than 1,000 Canadians became infected with blood-borne HIV and up to 20,000 others contracted hepatitis C after receiving tainted blood products in the 1980s and early 1990s." That gets the attention of health authorities. They can't let that happen again.

[snuffy]

 

SundanceFisher,

 

I work in the pathogenesis department at the University and we all see the media hype about H1N1 as something to fill in the news drought. However, to some extent the cynicism built up after SARS, etc is misplaced. It's like asking a skinny person why they're always exercising; confusing the goal for the outcome. To some degree, the fact that we haven't seen another Spanish Flu is because of these measures, not an argument for relaxing them.

 

The vaccine isn't a government experiment; it's something from the bug that'll evoke an immune response from you, thereby protecting you should you be exposed to the real thing in the future. Usually, this is a peptide cloned from a surface-exposed protein mated to a larger protein to enhance the effect. However, there is always a VERY, VERY slight chance that you'll have a severe reaction, and for that reason they are usually only administered to those in higher risk groups. Remember that bee stings kill people and it's more or less the same process. They'll have you hang out for a bit just to make sure. You have kids, which is the best way out there to get any disease, including this one, so I'd recommend you get it.

 

Immunity is immunity, regardless of how you got it. The problem with our increasingly sanitized lives is that if you're never exposed to anything, you're not immune to anything either, meaning that anything can make you sick. Don't go too crazy with the stuff.

 

This bug does seem to have more severe effects on the young, particularly young women, and even more particularly young, pregnant women. This is odd, since it's usually the old that are hit hardest for reasons I won't trouble you with. That said, it won't be a walk in the park for anybody. The death rate may be low because not many people have been exposed yet.

[reevesr1]

Yeah, it's just a big conspiracy. The media overblows everything. Nothing is ever as bad as they say it is going to be. Except when it's worse.

 

Who the eff knows? Not me. My hope is it is totally overblown. But I'm taking my shot. Downside it the government can track me now when they inject me with the damn chip. I bet it is made by RIM and they will get rich.

 

And Snuffy, please don't confuse us with those pesky "facts". They get in the way of our conjecture.

[dryfly]

Snuffy.

 

That is the most logical discussion I've heard on this. Thanks.

 

"And Snuffy, please don't confuse us with those pesky "facts". They get in the way of our conjecture. "Ignore the Texan (rickr) .. he is just spiffing you.

 

Thanks again.

 

Clive

[dube]

Did anyone else get the phone survey pertaining to this? I normally don't do phone surveys and not sure what convinced me to do this one but it was basically a feeler for who would get vaccinated and why. A lot of questions pertaining to family income and age, as well as reasons one may or may not get the shot. I found it a tad odd.

[Taco]

Thanks Snuffy. You just helped me make a decision, I'll be getting immunized.

[Taco]

Yeah, it's just a big conspiracy. The media overblows everything. Nothing is ever as bad as they say it is going to be. Except when it's worse.

 

Who the eff knows? Not me. My hope is it is totally overblown. But I'm taking my shot. Downside it the government can track me now when they inject me with the damn chip. I bet it is made by RIM and they will get rich.

 

And Snuffy, please don't confuse us with those pesky "facts". They get in the way of our conjecture.

 

Yo rickr!!! You're gettin' sarcastic again. You need to go fishin and swearin' @ the missed hooksets......

 

[Castuserraticus]

SundanceFisher,

 

I work in the pathogenesis department at the University and we all see the media hype about H1N1 as something to fill in the news drought. However, to some extent the cynicism built up after SARS, etc is misplaced. It's like asking a skinny person why they're always exercising; confusing the goal for the outcome. To some degree, the fact that we haven't seen another Spanish Flu is because of these measures, not an argument for relaxing them.

 

The vaccine isn't a government experiment; it's something from the bug that'll evoke an immune response from you, thereby protecting you should you be exposed to the real thing in the future. Usually, this is a peptide cloned from a surface-exposed protein mated to a larger protein to enhance the effect. However, there is always a VERY, VERY slight chance that you'll have a severe reaction, and for that reason they are usually only administered to those in higher risk groups. Remember that bee stings kill people and it's more or less the same process. They'll have you hang out for a bit just to make sure. You have kids, which is the best way out there to get any disease, including this one, so I'd recommend you get it.

 

Immunity is immunity, regardless of how you got it. The problem with our increasingly sanitized lives is that if you're never exposed to anything, you're not immune to anything either, meaning that anything can make you sick. Don't go too crazy with the stuff.

 

This bug does seem to have more severe effects on the young, particularly young women, and even more particularly young, pregnant women. This is odd, since it's usually the old that are hit hardest for reasons I won't trouble you with. That said, it won't be a walk in the park for anybody. The death rate may be low because not many people have been exposed yet.

 

I've read a couple of studies about the last swine flu vaccination program (1970's I think) where more people died due to side affects from the vaccine than from the actual disease. Some authors attrubute this to the adjuvants (preservatives and other substances) added to the vaccine to magnify the reaction of the immune system.

 

I readily admit I have developed some cynicism towards the modern "take a pill" medical system. I've seen remarkable results with more holistic nutritional/life style approaches with no side effects. The human body is designed to heal. Good nutrition, excercise, rest, and stress reduction are key to optimal health.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I've read a couple of studies about the last swine flu vaccination program (1970's I think) where more people died due to side affects from the vaccine than from the actual disease. Some authors attrubute this to the adjuvants (preservatives and other substances) added to the vaccine to magnify the reaction of the immune system.

 

I readily admit I have developed some cynicism towards the modern "take a pill" medical system. I've seen remarkable results with more holistic nutritional/life style approaches with no side effects. The human body is designed to heal. Good nutrition, excercise, rest, and stress reduction are key to optimal health.

 

What is the best stress reduction outside of fishing? Any hints?

[reevesr1]

I've read a couple of studies about the last swine flu vaccination program (1970's I think) where more people died due to side affects from the vaccine than from the actual disease. Some authors attrubute this to the adjuvants (preservatives and other substances) added to the vaccine to magnify the reaction of the immune system.

 

I readily admit I have developed some cynicism towards the modern "take a pill" medical system. I've seen remarkable results with more holistic nutritional/life style approaches with no side effects. The human body is designed to heal. Good nutrition, excercise, rest, and stress reduction are key to optimal health.

Some cynicism is certainly healthy (pun intended), and doing all the things you mentioned in your last sentence are great guides to good health. But it would be wise to remember that while the human body may have been designed to heal, medical advances,including flu vaccines) have raised our life expectancy toi levels far beyond just a few generations ago.

 

Periodically people die because they are wearing a seat belt. But it would be foolish to not wear a sea belt for that reason. Far, far more lives are saved. Same thing for flu vaccines.

 

Taco-how was that for serious? No sarcasm anywhere!

 

[Taco]

Nice to know you can swing both ways

[Guest Sundancefisher]

Some cynicism is certainly healthy (pun intended), and doing all the things you mentioned in your last sentence are great guides to good health. But it would be wise to remember that while the human body may have been designed to heal, medical advances,including flu vaccines) have raised our life expectancy toi levels far beyond just a few generations ago.

 

Periodically people die because they are wearing a seat belt. But it would be foolish to not wear a sea belt for that reason. Far, far more lives are saved. Same thing for flu vaccines.

 

Taco-how was that for serious? No sarcasm anywhere!

 

I personally think these people that think vacinnations for polio, small pox etc. is bad are a bunch of quacks. Now I find myself wondering if I myself am quacky for being hesitant about getting the flu shot this year. At the present moment I am considering doing it just for the family. I also signed up for a "flu awareness" luncheon tomorrow and a nurse is supposed to answer all questions.

[jimbow]

was just saying to people in the office - same as Y2K.........