posted April 27, 2009 03:32 PM            

There may have been cases in the US where death as been a result but at this time it is not confirmed (but will be). I can only say that this is not like the fear of Avian flu or SARS but something more. While we have not had the mortality rate as Mexico we don't know how the virus will mutate depending on the population or how it started in Mexico before it mutated (if it did).

We do know that our standard of living is better, our health care is better and therefore the death rate will be lower unless it does mutate. Viruses are tricky and they incorporate their RNA into a cells DNA to trick it into replicating itself. They can also incorporate resistance into their RNA which will then be transcriped into cells to propagate a virus that is more lethal.

Living here in Europe is a double edge sword. They are more proactive about surveillance but they are lacking in treatment (except for those affiliated with the Military and we will get vaccinated first even if it means making us all go back on post for an extended amount of time) but due to the Socialistic nature of many of these countries... well... I doubt they are going to dispense the anti-virals as a precaution measure.

Then again.. the anti-virals are less than effective as time goes on. Once someone has the flu they have a small window of efficacy (meaning the anti-viral). Viruses mutate at an incredible rate, meaning.. they recognize the anti-viral and work around it...

I hope this virus is self limiting. I hope that is it not one that mutates so fast that while we have "mild cases" everywhere but Mexico, that is turns into something more deadly.

The reason why it kills those that are between the ages of 25-45 is because of our advanced immune system. The 1918 flu caused a "Cytokine Cascade" meaning.. it made the T-cells and microphages go on the attack like using gasoline to put out a camp fire. The cells then began to attack the hosts body which lead to organ failure- then death.

We did have a case out here.. but I don't think they had tested for it yet. A Soldier came back from leave from the US.. then came down with the "flu". His immune system began to overreact and attack itself. He had a double lung transplant and died.

The sad thing is.. he was in a German hospital. I doubt they will check for swine flu. I doubt A LOT of things about Europe although they were smart enough to advise the cessation of non-essential travel to the US and Mexico while Stupid Napolitano said all was well (as did Obomber). Nap knows better. She was the head of my state when we prepared for all this crap.

As I write this... well.. she is finally issuing an advisory.... Too little too late..

The wombat should have known better. Same with Obomber

posted April 27, 2009 06:19 PM            

I am also reminded about an "House" episode I saw on fox. He and his staff are on a plane and apparently one person shows symptoms. It so happens the same symptons starts appearing one after the other until Dr House finally find the remedy. Seems the bottomline of that episode was 'our mind controls our body'. So if you believe its contagious , you will show the same signs as what you believe in.

Some vaccines have proven to be Manna from heaven (like Polio etc)...and some did not. Well keep trying scientists coz the outside and inner world are not separate. So I am with biologists and vaccine researchers. But apparently only a few are genius like Louis Pasteur to come up with something useful to mankind.

posted April 27, 2009 07:01 PM            

Level four already

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 27, 2009 09:18 PM            

& maybe more like September when Saturn & Uranus oppose each other again?

posted April 27, 2009 10:47 PM            

quote:

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The previous Saturn opposite Uranus transit was during 1917-1919. World War I was another unpopular war in the U.S. (President Wilson won his 2nd term on an anti-war platform) and it produced terrible atrocities, including the use of chemical weapons. Other challenges during this opposition included the flu pandemic that killed 20,000,000 people worldwide and more than 500,000 in the U.S., prohibition of alcohol became law, demonstrations by women for the right to vote, the first general strike in U.S. history, Gandhi led protests in India, and the U.S. government took control of the railroads and Wells Fargo and shut down breweries during WWI.

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posted April 28, 2009 08:16 AM            

I almost passed out in shock the other night (well not really- just almost)... and so, I was listening to a "conspiracy nut" on youtube weeks ago, my friend was listening too, it was an "emergency broadcast" regarding a flu epidemic that was imminent from leaked info. Wont go into details, I will find the link from youtube (if its still there) that was posted in March and april. When I heard what happened in Mexico with the Swine flu, it was shocking.

There are a few cases in NZ, and a school lockdown, and also a suspected case in a neighbor state.

posted April 28, 2009 11:34 AM            

emergen-cee is a great product that delivers a gram of vit c and other mineral/vitamin ingredients while giving you fluids at the same time.

and another deterrent is to take note that the U.S. cases have been very mild compared to the mexican ones. could that be because the mexican ones come from people actually exposed to pigs? who knows. maybe it is their general living conditions, or lack of early response. but it does seem to lose power as it removes from its origin?

posted April 28, 2009 12:06 PM            

"In April 2003, the world seemed on the brink of a killer pandemic.

After simmering for months in Guangdong, China, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus had exploded in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, the U.S. and 14 other countries. It had a seriously scary fatality rate of 10%.

But as quickly as it came, it just as quickly faded away. The virus turned out not to be as contagious as feared. To date, the World Health Organization estimates that 774 people died from SARS. Most of the deaths occurred in Hong Kong and other areas in Southern China--where officials let the outbreak fester too long without taking steps to contain it.

Here in the U.S. there were only eight reported SARS cases, all nonfatal.

SARS was scary, for sure. But it affected only a specific region. And the deaths were mostly to blame on incompetent public health officials.

This history is something to keep in mind in the coming weeks as the swine flu outbreak, which is suspected of causing more than 100 deaths in Mexico, unfolds. While there have been a small number of cases in the United States, almost all of them have been mild, and there have been no deaths. And it is not clear whether there ever will be a significant number of deaths.

Hysteria and exotic-sounding disease outbreaks go hand in hand. Whether it's anthrax, mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu or, going back to the 1990s, ebola—news of an outbreak generates fear that's disproportionate to the risk of catching the disease. In each of these cases deaths, if they occurred at all, were minimal.

During the SARS episode, the U.S. quickly cranked itself into full freakout mode. Each of the eight U.S. patients who contracted SARS had picked up the disease in Asia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet travelers donned face masks no matter where they were flying. Pedestrians in U.S. cities followed suit. Families canceled vacations. Shoppers and diners avoided Chinatowns and Chinese restaurants like they were leper colonies. Companies scaled back their business in Asia, and then blamed bad financial results on SARS.

Cable news channels and other media sensationalized the outbreak as if it were a Hollywood movie--a real-life sequel to Dustin Hoffman's 1995 hit Outbreak. A medical historian at the University of Toronto, Edward Shorter, watched what was going on and called the phenomenon "mass psychosis."

Meanwhile, that year--and in every year this decade—between 30,000 and 50,000 American deaths were recorded from complications related to the seasonal flu. Another 40,000 people died in automobile accidents. And each year, gunshot wounds account for 30,000 deaths, around 4,000 people drown while swimming or boating and 60 people die from lightning strikes.

"The public is driven by irrational fears. They didn't go to medical school," says Shorter. "They're responding to an abdication of leadership by political leaders."

So far, the U.S. has responded to the swine flu with restraint. President Obama said the problem is a "cause for concern" and "not a cause for alarm." And the declaration of a public health emergency is not quite as scary as it sounds. It is an important precautionary measure, like declaring a state of emergency in Florida because a hurricane may or may not hit. But Russia banned pork imports from Mexico. And Hong Kong has said it won't accept flights from Mexico. "That's irrational, except to whip up public sentiment against the Mexicans," Shorter says.

The American public—and the news media—was captivated for an entire weekend by the prospect of a swine flu crossing our border. Is it the beginning of the next pandemic? Will the U.S. State Department ban travel to Mexico? Will the border be sealed? Will San Diego be next?

posted April 28, 2009 12:42 PM            

It seems to be among the missing now.

posted April 28, 2009 12:45 PM            

Thanks for the info LTT.

Was thinking we should start a thread on Natural Remedies and Defenses for the flu. Let's see what we can dig up.

posted April 28, 2009 12:52 PM            

Did anyone read the part on it looking like the Flu is a vitamin D deficiency. Explains why it comes on stronger in the winter months - less sunlight.

posted April 28, 2009 12:55 PM            

Before they ban all vitamins and supplements. May not be too long now. Or we may not be able to leave our homes to get them. Stores will be closed, cities under lock-down.

posted April 28, 2009 01:05 PM            

quote:

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The 1918 flu was first reported in March of that year, in Kansas’s Haskell County, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The flu then became dormant in the U.S. for the summer, re-emerging in a more severe form in the fall of 1918, with a final wave of illness in spring of 1919.

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posted April 28, 2009 01:09 PM            

1st hit - Nov. 4th 08 -- US Election Day

Repeats later on Feb 5th and Sept 15th 2009

Then April 26th & July 2010 at 0` Aries / Libra

critical degrees, I believe.

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posted April 28, 2009 03:47 PM            

quote:

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The good news is that we were all worried about so-called bird flu H5N1 which was a much more dangerous virus. Here, we are not in the same ball park.

"We might expect up to 30-40% of the population to become ill in the next six months if this truly turns into a pandemic"
Professor Ferguson

But we can't at the moment answer the question is it comparable to 1918 Spanish flu which killed a lot of people is it much more like Hong Kong flu.

We are coming out of the normal time of year when we have flu circulating in the UK so we don't really know what size of epidemic there may be in the next couple of months.

It is almost certain that even if it does fade away in the next few weeks which it might we will get a sizable epidemic in the Autumn.

We might expect up to 30-40% of the population to become ill in the next six months if this truly turns into a pandemic.

We could get substantial numbers infected in the next few weeks. If I was to be a betting man I would say it would be a slightly longer period of time just because we are heading into the summer months.

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posted April 28, 2009 03:50 PM            

quote:

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Jones/Watson: When the story first broke last month, Czech newspapers questioned if the shocking discovery of vaccines contaminated with the deadly avian flu virus which were distributed to 18 countries by the American company Baxter were part of a conspiracy to provoke a pandemic. Since the probability of mixing a live virus biological weapon with vaccine material by accident is virtually impossible, this leaves no other explanation than that the contamination was a deliberate attempt to weaponize the H5N1 virus to its most potent extreme and distribute it via conventional flu vaccines to the population who would then infect others to a devastating degree as the disease went airborne.

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