Can modern medicine save you from the bird flu if it becomes a human pandemic? Don't bet your life on it. As the World Health Organization explains on its site, "Although health care has improved in the last decades, epidemiological models from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA project that today a pandemic is likely to result in 2 million to 7.4 million deaths globally. In high income countries alone, accounting for 15 percent of the world’s population, models project a demand for 134 million to 233 million outpatient visits and 1.5 million to 5.2 million hospital admissions." In fact,
modern medicine is largely helpless against such outbreaks. Even in recent times, outbreaks have been frequent. And throughout history, they have devastated populations.
The 1918 -1919 Spanish Flu pandemic killed 40 million people around the world. The 1956 Asian Flu pandemic killed hundreds of thousands. In 2002 - 2003, SARS very nearly became a global pandemic, and it killed an astounding 10 percent of those infected.
Today, all eyes are on the avian flu virus H5N1, which was first detected in pigs in Vietnam in February, 2004. And the people who study infectious disease know the next pandemic is right around the corner.
"During the last few years, the world has faced several threats with pandemic potential, making the occurrence of the next pandemic just a matter of time."
-The World Health Organization
Primed for infectious disease
Historically speaking, we're overdue for the next outbreak. In many ways, the world today is even more conducive to the spread of these dangerous viruses than in times past. Today we have higher population density than ever before, which means the virus can spread more easily from one person to the next. Today, we have faster global travel than ever before, meaning the virus can jump from city to city in a matter of hours.
"Given the high level of global traffic, the pandemic virus may spread rapidly,
leaving little or no time to prepare."
-The World Health Organization
On top of that, we have a medical system that is actually breeding superbugs in hospitals where antibiotics abuse encourages the mutation of extremely aggressive infectious strains with innate immunity to every known antibiotic.
See http://www.WebSeed.com/Superbugs.html
Simultaneously, we have bizarre animal feeding habits where cows are being fed chicken litter (containing chicken dung and feathers). We have cows being fed the ground up remains of other cows and animals, including spinal cord tissue and brain tissue, and thus we're creating an environment for the rapid mutation and distribution of aggressive viral strains. This is partly what's causing mad cow disease to be such a concern, and it could play a hand in the next global pandemic.
Don't believe it? See http://www.WebSeed.com/Mad_cow_disease.html
Humanity is now virtually defenseless
Today we have all the conditions to foster a global outbreak. And yet we have virtually no defense against it; no vaccines, no vaccine distribution system and no policies to decide who gets vaccines and who doesn't. The only thing that's missing is the virus itself; and in fact, an avian strain already exists. It's the influenza A (H5N1) strain right now living in pigs and birds in Southeast Asia (and being found in wild birds in Canada, Europe and elsewhere). Should it make the jump to humans, it may very well become the next global pandemic.
It is not an exaggeration to say that millions would die from it. The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are saying exactly the same thing. Check the headlines yourself at http://www.WebSeed.com/Pandemic.html
Much the same is also being stated by one of the world's leading experts on influenza, such as Dr. Robert G. Webster, a member of the Infectious Diseases Department of St. Jude and coauthor of the Nov. 28, 2003 article about influenza published in the Journal of Science. You can see some of Dr. Webster's credentials at http://www.stjude.org/faculty/0,2512,407_2030_3957,00.html.
As Dr. Webster explains, "If an influenza pandemic started tomorrow, we would not be able to head it off with vaccines because the production facilities available to produce them are grossly inadequate." He also mirrors the preparedness assessment offered by the World Health Organization. Namely, that neither the United States nor the world is prepared for a flu pandemic. "In the face of a pandemic, the available supplies of antiviral drugs would be used up in days," he says. "It would take up to 18 months to make more drugs from scratch. Stockpiling is the only answer."
Take charge of your own defense
All this leads to the humbling realization that anyone who wishes to prepare for the coming flu pandemic is going to have to take charge and stop relying on their governments to save them. It's quite clear there is eventually going to be an outbreak of an aggressive viral strain that's going to get into the human population and probably make SARS look like a picnic with Cub Scouts.
Even the World Health Organization has become downright alarmed about this, and we're seeing articles about how ill-prepared the world is to deal with an outbreak.
If such a pandemic emerges while most of the global population remains unprepared, millions of people are going to needlessly die. And why are they going to die? Because they are going to believe that the only way to defend themselves against the viral outbreak is to get a shot. And there aren't going to be enough vaccine shots to go around. That much is clear. There simply will not be enough vaccines to protect people from whatever strain is circulating.
The real solution to a bird flu pandemic is not found in modern medicine, nor in wishful thinking. Rather, those who survive such a pandemic will rely on natural anti-viral foods, herbs and nutritional supplements that offer powerful medicine from nature to overcome viral infections.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Tuesday, May 09, 2006
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