Category Archives: Infectious Disease

H1N1 Flu Cases Rise- 72 Now Dead

Posted on May 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

H1N1 is on the move.   The 1918 Flu epidemic was a Swine Flu which is known to have killed between 20 million  to 100 million people worldwide.  The 1918 flu started in the spring, was fairly calm during the summer and then took off with a vengeance during the fall and winter.  Until recently, few understood the seasonal variation of the flu.  However, recent evidence by Dr. John Cannell suggests that vitamin D deficiency plays a role.  Let me explain.  Vitamin D blood levels start trending downwards during the fall and winter.  Studies show that vitamin D increases immunity by making White Blood Cells more effective. Since  vitamin D blood levels tend to be higher during the summer, when people spend more time in the sun, they are less likely to become susceptible to the virus when exposed.  To read more about vitamin D and influenza, check out the new book, Vitamin D Presciption- The Healing Power of the Sun by Eric Madrid MD.

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ZURICH (Reuters) – The number of confirmed cases of the new Influenza A (H1N1) flu has climbed to 8,480 and the death toll has remained static at 72, the World Health Organization said in its latest update on Sunday.

The confirmation of cases in India, Malaysia and Turkey brought the number of countries with confirmed cases of H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, to 39, the WHO said.

The vast majority of cases have been in Mexico and the United States. The spread of the disease has led the WHO to declare a pandemic is imminent. On April 29 it raised its pandemic alert to 5 on a 6-level scale.

The virus is behaving much like a seasonal influenza strain, which kills 500,000 annually, by spreading rapidly and causing mainly mild disease, but severe illness in some people.…read more here…

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The Dangers of the Flu-

Posted on May 3, 2009 | 1 Comment

THE FLU VIRUS DANGERS

Complacency. Many people think Influenza is just a seasonal nuisance. It is not just a nuisance . It is ONE OF THE WORST VIRAL INFECTIONS KNOWN TO MAN!

Even with modern Man’s advanced medical technology, it kills over a million people world wide every year with over 200,000 birth defects and with over 35,000 deaths in the US alone! For some unfathomable reason it is not A REPORTING DISEASE as designated by the CDC. No accurate records are kept. The worldwide economy also loses over a TRILLION….that is a thousand BILLION dollars a year in unrealized productivity yearly.

If H5N1 mutates to become the next pandemic ( this has happened three times in the last hundred years ) it could destroy the entire world economy for years.

It remains one of the top ten causes of death in the United States. During an ordinary flu season in the USA, over 25% of the population is infected with ordinary type A Influenza in spite of Flu shots . That is in a good year. The shots are only 50% effective for Americans 50 or older and that is if the yearly vaccine components are accurately gauged against the prevalent strains coming from Asia. The chicken egg vaccine production is also outmoded and incapable of ramping up for any extraordinary Public Health threat such as human to human transmissible Avian Influenza like H5N1. This ancient vaccine formulation method developed about 50 years ago, depends on GUESSES by the epidemiologists and is composed of a cocktail of three or four dominant strains based on the viral coatings of these strains which change each year. If they guess wrong as has happened then there is minimal protection.

None of these Methods are applicable to N5N1 as Humans have no resistance to this new emerging disease.

H5N1 virus has over 52% mortality. It can become airborne and it is rapidly mutating to become the next worldwide PANDEMIIC. There is now a raging scientific/medical controversy whether in fact any of the anti viral medicines work against this killer virus.

1918 PANDEMIC

Avian flu struck in 1918 and wiped out over 50 million people in less than six months. This was the worst epidemic in human history and it happened in the 20th century. It was far worse than the BLACK DEATH in Europe. Sars has a mortality of about 10%, 1918 flu about 15%. H5N1 about 52%.

If it happens again as most epidemiologist say it will , we will be almost defenseless. WE ARE RIPE FOR ANOTHER PANDEMIC RIGHT NOW

VIRULENT INFLUENZA MUTATIONS CAN KILL IN HOURS!

In 1918 a person could wake up feeling fine and be dead that evening and turning blue...read more here…

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The Age Of Pandemics-

Posted on May 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

The Age of Pandemics- Wall Street Journal

The threat of deadly new viruses is on the rise due to population growth, climate change and increased contact between humans and animals. What the world needs to do to prepare.

By LARRY BRILLIANT

In 1967, the country’s surgeon general, William Stewart, famously said, “The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases. We have basically wiped out infection in the United States.” This premature victory declaration, perhaps based on early public health victories over 19th-century infectious diseases, has entered the lore of epidemiologists who know that, if anything, the time has come to open the book to a new and dangerous chapter on 21st-century communicable diseases.

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Indeed, to the epidemiological community, the Influenza Pandemic of 2009 is one of the most widely anticipated diseases in history. Epidemiologists have been shouting from rooftops that a pandemic (or, a world-wide epidemic) of influenza is overdue, and that it is not a matter of “if” but “when.” The current pathogen creating the threat is actually a mixture of viral genetic elements from all over the globe that have sorted, shifted, sorted, shifted, drifted and recombined to form this worrisome virus.

No one knows if the 2009 swine flu will behave like the 1918 Spanish flu that killed 50 million to 100 million world-wide, or like the 1957 Asian flu and 1968 Hong Kong flu that killed far fewer. This 2009 flu may weaken and lose its virulence, or strengthen and gain virulence — we just do not know.

Here’s the good news: Compared with a few years ago, the world is somewhat better prepared to deal with pandemic influenza. There have been training meetings, table-top exercises, dry runs and preparedness drills at virtually every level of government and civil society. World Health Organization member states have agreed on a set of regulations that require all members to report the status of diseases of global significance within their borders. We have two effective antiviral drugs, at least for the time being. There have been some breakthroughs to reduce the time required to get effective vaccines into the field, and there is even a small chance that last year’s seasonal vaccine will help protect lives from H1N1. In the U.S. at least, influenza surveillance has improved…read more here…

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Swine Flu – Phase 6 Alert May Be Called by WHO

Posted on May 2, 2009 | 4 Comments

Swine Flu Update- Get the latest as of May 3rd, 2009—

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By Tom Randall and Dermot Doherty

May 3 (Bloomberg) — The World Health Organization may designate the outbreak of H1N1 influenza as a pandemic by raising its six-stage alert level to its highest step even as many cases of swine flu show symptoms no more severe than seasonal flu, health officials said.

The WHO isn’t seeing sustained community transmission of the virus, known formally as influenza A H1N1, outside of North America, said Michael Ryan, the WHO’s director of global alert and response, at a news conference yesterday in Geneva where the UN health agency is based.

Ireland became the 17th country yesterday to confirm swine flu and the new virus may be spreading in five nations among people unconnected to Mexico, where cases were first reported. The health minister in Mexico said yesterday the country had no new deaths attributed to the virus.

“At this stage we have to expect that phase 6 will be reached; we have to hope that it won’t be reached,” Ryan said. “I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent.”..read more here…

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Swine Flu Vaccine 6 Months Away

Posted on April 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

Swine flu vaccine is still  6 months away. Perhaps this will be ready for next years flu season.  However, with the rate at which viruses  mutate, it is possible that it would not even be effective for next year’s strain.  In either case, staying healthy, exercising regularly and eating the right foods can do  a lot to keep our immune systems’ strong. Studies have shown vitamin D to also be effective in preventing the flu, which likely explains why the flu is more dangerous during the winter and spring months, where there is less sunlight.

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Don’t wait around for new flu vaccine

The nation’s convoluted development process means protection against H1N1 virus won’t come for several months.

By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com senior writer
April 30, 2009: 4:18 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A day after the World Health Organization upgraded the swine flu to a “pandemic threat” level, the nation’s pharmaceutical industry warned that a vaccine to protect against the virus could still be at least six months away.

“It’s going to be very hard to be doing it any faster,” said Alan Goldhammer, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The biggest obstacle is the egg-based technology used to develop all flu vaccines in the United States.

The process involves first growing the virus in chicken eggs, then harvesting it into vaccines.

Not only is this a time-consuming process, but Goldhammer points out that the quantity of the vaccine produced is limited to the egg’s volume.

“It’s only so fast that you can make a chicken lay eggs,” said Goldhammer.

“It’s a 1940s technology that’s not efficient anymore,” said Devon Herrick, senior fellow with non-profit research group the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).. He said a cell-based technology not approved in the United States — but used in Europe — could cut the vaccine development time to 13 weeks from its current 24 weeks.

Competition for eggs: Complicating matters is the fact that the cumbersome U.S. vaccine process was already gearing up to treat a different strain of the flu later this year.

At the beginning of each year — usually in January — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tries to predict what new virus strains will hit the United States nine to 12 months later. The government has not revealed the 2009-10 strain.

To do this, the CDC looks at flu strains that have already impacted Asia, said Herrick. Once the agency agrees on a strain for all manufacturers to develop into a vaccine, commercial scale production usually begins in March for market availability in late September to October.

That process had already started when the swine flu or H1N1 virus struck Mexico. Now the two strains will compete for the limited resources manufacturers have to develop seasonal vaccines.

“In general, the normal flu vaccine given in October and November is about 80 to 100 million doses,” said Goldhammer. “‘We’re talking about producing 70 to 80 million doses just for swine flu.”

Goldhammer said vaccine makers also need to run multiple tests to find the right dose for each vaccine to determine the necessary immunity against the virus.

The roadblocks to speedy production don’t end there. Goldhammer said only six companies last year manufactured flu vaccines and two of them are relatively small…read rest of story

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