Quote: "Posted by Gerard [User Info] on March 26, 2015, 10:42 am
Quote: "Swine flu is a respiratory disease, caused by a strain of the influenza type A virus known as H1N1.
I got it, I’m pretty sure of that (people whose systems could be more easily
compromised did),there is no natural immunity and the virus doesn’t
present in any other way in this form (morning “shivers”, slight
temperature elevations and persistent -esp. morning-, diarrhoea). I
remember, however, warnings (which were quashed at the time), concerning
the virus’s escape into the population via “the gastric route”! This
stinks and mine has, if anything, been getting worse , this silent
killer has been loosed upon the population at a time of most
vulnerability (reminds one of The Four Horsemen themselves).
H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis.
But this latest version is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.
Although the strain may have originated in pigs, it is now a wholly human disease.
It can be spread from person to person by coughing and sneezing.
Symptoms of swine flu in humans appear to be similar to those produced by standard, seasonal flu - fever, cough, sore throat, body aches and chills. Some people with the virus have also reported nausea and diarrhoea.
However, many people who get flu show no symptoms at all.*
Health experts say this could happen in half of all cases and with swine flu an analysis has shown that for children one in four of those infected may not fall ill.
What are the risks of the flu?
Experts have wrestled with the question ever since the pandemic emerged.
The problem is that for most people it is mild - about 98% recover without the need for any hospital treatment**.
But doctors have found it very hard to predict who will develop complications, hence it has been dubbed a "Jekyll and Hyde" virus.
A fifth of the people who have died have been previously healthy individuals without any health conditions.
Nonetheless, certain groups are known to be at higher risk.
Pregnant women are between three to four times more likely to get seriously ill.
Young children also have higher rates of hospitalisation - although this could be partly because doctors are quicker to admit them." Go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8021958.stm
Quote: "Influenza is an acute respiratory illness due to infection with the influenza virus.
Uncomplicated influenza is defined as influenza presenting with fever, coryza, generalised symptoms (headache, malaise, myalgia, arthralgia) and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms, but without any features of complicated influenza.
Complicated influenza is defined as influenza requiring hospital admission and/or with symptoms and signs of lower respiratory tract infection (hypoxaemia, dyspnoea, lung infiltrate), central nervous system involvement and/or a significant exacerbation of an underlying medical condition.
Pathogenesis
There are three serotypes - A, B and C.[2] Influenza A and B viruses cause most clinical disease:
A is the more frequent and the cause of major influenza outbreaks.
B tends to circulate with A in yearly outbreaks and causes less severe illness.
C tends to cause a mild or asymptomatic illness akin to the common cold.
Influenza A serotypes are further categorised by their surface antigens:
H: haemagglutinin - facilitates entry of the virus into the host respiratory cell.
N: neuraminidase - facilitates release of virions from the infected host cells.
There are 15 H and 9 N subtypes of the A virus in aquatic birds, which together with pigs (often termed the 'mixing vessel' for scrambling human and avian virus genetic material) are the natural reservoir of the virus. Many of the newer types of influenza are thought to have arisen in China because of the often close co-habitation there of pigs, fowl and humans. Swine flu is an influenza A virus most frequently of subtype H1N1, usually found in pigs but able to be transferred to humans.
The influenza virus undergoes minor mutations to one or both of its surface antigens - antigenic drift. This causes seasonal epidemics where people have only partial immunity from previous infection.
In influenza A alone, major and sudden changes in the H and N antigens produce a new virus subtype - antigenic shift. There is little population immunity to the new form and a major epidemic may ensue.
There is evidence emerging that humans can serve as the 'mixing vessel' for at least some of the 15 avian subtypes circulating in bird populations." Go to: http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/influenza
*Italics mine.
**I dispute this in the case of the most recent pandemic! As I have stated I believe many cases of gastrointestinal swine-flu remain undiagnosed ("hidden" in the population of both the poorly advised and wary).
You know I suspect that things have been left this way because they know they cannot treat it! "
I was "tweeted" this on Twitter today (March 27, 2015),....
Quote: "WHO and the pandemic flu “conspiracies” – The BMJ and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism report
Conflicts of Interest
– A joint investigation by the BMJ and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that raises troubling questions about how WHO managed conflicts of interest among the scientists who advised its pandemic planning
– The secrecy of the committee is also fuelling conspiracy theories, particularly around the activation of dormant pandemic vaccine contracts. A key question will be whether the pharmaceutical companies, which had invested around $4bn (£2.8bn, 3.3bn) in developing the swine flu vaccine, had supporters inside the emergency committee.
- Was it appropriate for WHO to take advice from experts who had declarable financial and research ties with pharmaceutical companies producing antivirals and influenza vaccines?
- Why was key WHO guidance authored by an influenza expert who had received payment for other work from Roche, manufacturers of oseltamivir, and GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturers of zanamivir?
- Why does the composition of the emergency committee from which Chan sought guidance remain a secret known only to those within WHO?
- Our investigation has identified key scientists involved in WHO pandemic planning who had declarable interests, some of whom are or have been funded by pharmaceutical firms that stood to gain from the guidance they were drafting
- FDA’s advisory committee voted by 13 to 4 not to approve zanamivir on the grounds that it was no more effective than placebo when the patients were on other drugs such as paracetamol. He said that it didn’t reduce symptoms even by a day.
- conflicts of interest have never been publicly disclosed by WHO, and WHO has dismissed inquiries into its handling of the A/H1N1 pandemic as “conspiracy theories.”
- the advisory committee decided not to recommend zanamivir, the FDA’s management reassigned the oseltamivir review to someone else. Dr Elashoff believes that the approval of zanamivir paved the way for oseltamivir, which was approved by the FDA later that year.
- “WHO never publishes individual DOIs [declaration of interest], except after consultation with the Office of the Director-General.
"Key scientists advising the World Health Organization on planning for
an influenza pandemic had done paid work for pharmaceutical firms that
stood to gain from the guidance they were preparing. These conflicts
of interest have never been publicly disclosed by WHO, and WHO has
dismissed inquiries into its handling of the A/H1N1 pandemic as
“conspiracy theories.” Deborah Cohen and Philip Carter investigate.
Next week marks the first anniversary of the official declaration of
the influenza A/H1N1 pandemic. On 11 June 2009 Dr Margaret Chan, the
director general of the World Health Organization, announced to the
world’s media: “I have conferred with leading influenza experts,
virologists, and public health officials. In line with procedures set
out in the International Health Regulations, I have sought guidance and
advice from an Emergency Committee established for this purpose. On the
basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the
evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been
met…The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic.”
It was the culmination of 10 years of pandemic preparedness planning
for WHO—years of committee meetings with experts flown in from around
the world and reams of draft documents offering guidance to governments.
But one year on, governments that took advice from WHO are unwinding
their vaccine contracts, and billions of dollars’ worth of stockpiled
oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza)—bought from health budgets
already under tight constraints—lie unused in warehouses around the
world."
For full article go to: http://linkis.com/engineeringevil.com/yMfGC
Thank you Wilma (@wilma _miles one of my anti-"E.M.R" buddies!)!
Also (and also from Wilma),..
Quote: "Swine flu outbreak in India: Expert suggests new strains behind deaths, calls for virus studies
A
new strain of influenza virus responsible for 99.8% flu infections in
the US now could be responsible for some of the deaths in the recent
swine flu outbreak in India, says a visiting scientist and director of
Atlanta Emory Vaccine Centre.
Dr Rafi Ahmed, who is leading an inter-governmental vaccine development programme of the Emory Centre and New Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), called for studying the strains of the influenza virus in the current outbreak.
At least 20 deaths in Telangana could have been caused by other strains of swine flu, agree doctors.
With similar symptoms to H1N1 infected cases, these patients who were sent home after showing negative results for H1N1 died within a few days.
A panic-driven rush for vaccines at drug stores is sending the stocks low.
The trivalent influenza vaccine gives protection against H1N1, H3N2 and Influenza B. The vaccine takes at least two weeks to develop immunity and provides about 60-80% protection for about a year.
Following consultations with experts, the Indian government has recommended vaccination only for health workers.
Toll crosses 900
Meanwhile, the Indian Health Minister JP Nadda has urged the public not to panic, even as the number of deaths from swine flu crossed 900 in less than two months, while the number of infected cases stood at 16,000.
Almost 51 deaths were reported in a single day.
Most of the deaths have been from complications arising from other diseases or disorders present in the patient. Patients have been coming into hospitals very late, further aggravating their condition, said a statement issued by the ministry.
The drug oseltamivir remains effective for treatment, it said.
Virologists have recommending the use of N-95 face masks which filter out over 95% of small air droplets if worn correctly.
But the masks should not be worn for more than two hours and need to be disposed off carefully.
Washing hands thoroughly for a good two minutes using a soap solution has also been recommended as a way to reduce exposure risks.
Thirty five fresh swine flu cases have been reported in the state of Telangana on a single day.
According to the ministry, Rajasthan accounts for the highest number of deaths at 234, along with 4,884 infections. Gujarat ranks second at 231 deaths and 3,527 infections. Rise in infections has been seen in Delhi with 2571 cases.
Curfew in Ahmedabad
The Ahmedabad district collector invoked the Criminal Procedure Code's Section 144 on Tuesday, prohibiting mass gatherings without prior permission in a bid to check the spread of swine flu. Marriages and death processions have been exempted.
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab have reported some deaths too.
The World Health Organization has said it was "carefully watching" the swine flu situation in India while ruling out signs of a large outbreak as yet.
The outbreak is expected to subside as temperatures rise during the summer but will pick up when temperatures drop after the rains in July.
The H3N2 virus, is one of the three sub-types of swine flu but labs in India are only looking for H1N1 strains. H2N2 is the other strain.
Dr Rafi Ahmed, who is leading an inter-governmental vaccine development programme of the Emory Centre and New Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), called for studying the strains of the influenza virus in the current outbreak.
At least 20 deaths in Telangana could have been caused by other strains of swine flu, agree doctors.
With similar symptoms to H1N1 infected cases, these patients who were sent home after showing negative results for H1N1 died within a few days.
A panic-driven rush for vaccines at drug stores is sending the stocks low.
The trivalent influenza vaccine gives protection against H1N1, H3N2 and Influenza B. The vaccine takes at least two weeks to develop immunity and provides about 60-80% protection for about a year.
Following consultations with experts, the Indian government has recommended vaccination only for health workers." Go to: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/swine-flu-outbreak-india-expert-suggests-new-strains-behind-deaths-calls-virus-studies-1489546
BAD Medicine: Swine-flu Vaccine Responsible for Explosion in Teenage Narcolepsy: CH4:
Quote: "In early 2010, scores of children across Britain started to experience unusual symptoms. Although outwardly healthy, they suddenly began to lapse into uncontrollable sleep, sometimes nodding off up to 30 times a day. Their parents thought they were putting it on, or staying up too late, and only sought treatment after weeks had passed. Eventually, doctors got to the bottom of the problem – the children were suffering from narcolepsy.
Several months later, as desperate parents continued to comb websites and chat rooms for advice on how to deal with the symptoms of the devastating sleep disorder, a pattern began to emerge: all of the afflicted children – around 1,000 across Europe – had been given Pandemrix, the swine flu vaccine.
One of those children is Xander, from Plymouth.
Now nine years old, he is beset by sleep problems, waking frequently throughout the night. He has ballooned to seven stone, twice his natural weight, because every time he wakes up, his brain believes it is time for breakfast." Go to: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-03-10/children-face-a-waking-nightmare-in-new-documentary