Flu pandemic

Email this page to a friend

Want news about Flu pandemic and more e-mailed to you? Click here for free email alerts

Food Revolution: How your diet can help save your life and our world John Robbins See book keywords and concepts

This happens rarely in Nature, which is fortunate, because when it does, the results can be disastrous. The flu pandemic of 1918, which killed more than 22 million people worldwide, is thought to have been caused by horizontal gene transfer. AIDS is now thought to stem from a virus that originated in chimpanzees and somehow jumped to humans who ate the chimps or exchanged blood with them. Mad Cow disease is now understood to be the result of horizontal transfer of an infectious protein that kills sheep. With so much at stake, you might think that those involved would be moved to humility.

Viral Immunity J. E. Williams, O.M.D. See book keywords and concepts

In one research paper, Allen Tyler, a medical doctor and naturopathic physician, reports that fibromyalgia was not seen before the 1918 flu pandemic. In his research, he found that 90 percent of fibromyalgia patients tested positive for influenza A antibodies. Tyler postulates that since not all people who contract influenza A come down with fibromyalgia, and though it may be the primary precipitating event, it may be only one factor among many, including stress, altered immunity, and low serotonin levels, that contribute to the full syndrome (Tyler 1997).

Prepare for seasonal illnesses and a possible flu pandemic by using natural remedies, especially Chinese medicine, to shorten its duration and intensity. Warts Human papilloma viruses (HPV) belong to the Papovaviridae family and cause common warts, plantar warts, and genital warts. There are over 80 known different types of HPV, and though most are benign, some types can develop into cancer. The most important of the potentially malignant type are those that occur in the female cervix, especially HPV types 16 and 18.

Flu : The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic Gina Kolata See book keywords and concepts

Moreover, the birds were coming from Guangdong Province, the exact place in southern China where the 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemic began, Shortridge said. He was haunted by the thought that another 1918 pandemic might be starting and that the decisions he and the other scientists made could determine whether the world was ravished by disease and death or whether a disaster was stopped in its tracks. "It was absolutely terrifying. You could feel the weight of the world pressing down on you," Shortridge said.

Some of the specialists in influenza saw the new flu strain and its ties to the 1918 flu as an excuse to try an immunization campaign that might vastly improve upon what happened in the last flu pandemic, the Hong Kong flu of 1968. That time, too few were immunized, and too late, to staunch the virus's spread. But most others had a different response to the 1918 metaphor. It "came as a bolt from the blue," to many who had to make a decision, Neustadt and May wrote, "capturing imaginations and dominating impressions.

In their interviews with those present at the advisory committee meeting, Neustadt and Fineberg learned that the participants had estimated, privately, what they thought the chances were of a swine flu pandemic. Estimates ranged from 2 to 20 percent, though no one discussed them. "Each was prepared to bet with nobody but himself," Neustadt and Fineberg wrote. "The probabilities, after all, were based on personal judgment, not scientific fact. They voice them to us now: they did not voice them then.

One option was to make the vaccine and store it, waiting to see if a deadly swine flu pandemic really did occur. That, however, could prove disastrous, the scientists at the meeting decided, since the flu could spread throughout the world overnight. "Better to store the vaccine in people than in warehouses," one meeting participant said. But Dowdle and others were hardly enthusiastic about taking immediate action to immunize the nation against swine flu.

In 1968, there was the "Hong Kong" flu pandemic, another flu that originated in Asia. Vaccine makers were prepared, but few Americans bothered to get vaccinated. Although no epidemic even approached the 1918 one in its dead-liness, Hultin could not help but worry. If vaccine makers only knew what that virus looked like, they could make a vaccine to protect people in advance and could publicize the importance of being protected. That way if or, as Hultin thought more likely, when it came again, the 1918 virus would not be so devastating.

page 2 of 2 | Next ->

FAIR USE NOTICE: The research quoted here is provided under the protection of Fair Use provisions and published by the 501(c)3 non-profit Consumer Wellness Center for the purposes of public comment and education. Authors / publishers may submit books for consideration of inclusion here.

TERMS OF USE: Read full terms of use. Citations of text from NaturalPedia must include: 1) Full credit to the original author and book title. 2) Secondary credit to the Natural News Naturalpedia as a research resource and a link to www.NaturalNews.com/np/index.html

This unique compilation of research is copyright (c) 2008 by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.