Home
Newsletter
Events
Blogs
Reports
Graphics
RSS
About Us
Support
Write for Us
Media Info
Advertising Info
Swine flu

Eight Hundred Thousand Misdiagnosed in Swine Flu Farce

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by: Marek Doyle
Tags: swine flu, diagnosis, health news

Most Viewed Articles
https://www.naturalnews.com/027754_swine_flu_diagnosis.html
Delicious
diaspora
Print
Email
Share

(NewsTarget) This week, Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that only one in five people who were diagnosed with swine flu actually had the disease and that four fifths were instructed to take Tamiflu unnecessarily.

The Government agency reported that around one million packets of Tamiflu have been prescribed so far, but more than 800,000 of these were not necessary. In one seven-day period, the rate of correct diagnosis dropped to an astonishing 1 out of 20, with 38,000 citizens taking the controversial antiviral. These alarming figures only came to light after the HPA took swabs from random samples of people who had used the NHS helpline.

This means close to a million people needlessly stayed at home in isolation over the summer, in the false belief that they had swine flu. "These figures are a damning indictment of the government's approach to tackling swine flu," said Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb. "Ministers had years to prepare for such an outbreak but completely failed to put in place an effective flu-line service. It's seriously concerning that large numbers of patients may have been put at risk through high rates of misdiagnosis.While protecting people during an outbreak has to be the priority we cannot escape the fact that an enormous amount of money has been wasted by giving people drugs they simply didn't need."

On top of an estimated 500 million pound cost to the UK economy, the misdiagnosis may have caused new health problems for the members of the public who took the antiviral. The Medicines and Health Regulatory Authority has been swamped with complaints of side-effects from members of the public who had taken Tamiflu, with 11 percent reporting nausea.

Many experts have long refuted the fear-mongering that the mainstream media had allocated to the swine flu issue, with most seeing it as a cynical sales-drive for antivirals and vaccines on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. This view was supported by research published in Science journal very soon after pandemic status was awarded, in which it was shown that the swine flu organism was of low virulence. Critics point out that policymakers selectively ignored this research, yet happily accepted a study conducted by American scientists on the safety of the Tamiflu, even though the study only lasted one week and all eight authors declared financial interests in the antiviral they were testing. Widespread use of Tamiflu has shown to be ineffective against the H1N1 virus, with the virus becoming quickly resistant.

Despite the increasing burden of evidence to the contrary, the NHS refused to accept that science had been distorted. A spokesperson commented: "Protecting the public is the prime concern on our strategy... this means offering antivirals when required."

References:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234...

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/media/2009/...

Bourke TW and Shields MD (2009). A/H1N1 pandemic: misdiagnosis in the time of meningitis, British Medical Journal, 339.

De Jong MD et al (2005). Oseltamivir resistance during treatment of influenza A (H5N1) infection.
New England Journal of Medicine, 22;353(25):2667-72.

Greenberg ME at al. Response after one dose of a monovalent influenza A (H1N1) vaccine-preliminary report. New England Journal of Medicine. 361(10):1056.

Maines TR et al (2009). Transmission and pathogenesis of swine-origin 2009 A(H1N1) influenza viruses in ferrets and mice. Science, 325: 484-487.


About the author

Marek Doyle is a London personal trainer, nutritionist and the pioneer of the Combined Allergy Test, with locations serving Kensington, Chelsea, West London and Basingstoke. Marek runs Blueprint Fitness, edits theAdrenal Fatigue Focus website and has been recognised as one of the top three trainers in the country and counts world champion athletes, models and TV celebrities amongst his clientele.

Receive Our Free Email Newsletter

Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.


comments powered by Disqus



Natural News Wire (Sponsored Content)

Science.News
Science News & Studies
Medicine.News
Medicine News and Information
Food.News
Food News & Studies
Health.News
Health News & Studies
Herbs.News
Herbs News & Information
Pollution.News
Pollution News & Studies
Cancer.News
Cancer News & Studies
Climate.News
Climate News & Studies
Survival.News
Survival News & Information
Gear.News
Gear News & Information
Glitch.News
News covering technology, stocks, hackers, and more