Источник: www.tweetswineflu.com

Источник: ivory-white.com

That notion is weighing on the minds of more than a few infectious-disease experts as the fall and winter flu season looms.

Not only does societal panic not help during a public health situation, such as the current H1N1 flu pandemic, it can actually backfire, creating its own set of problems, the experts said.

* Numbers out of context. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 600 Americans have died from H1N1 swine flu, which now comprises 97 percent of new U.S. influenza infections. That sounds like a scary number, until you realize that the “regular” seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans each year.

* Dramatic moves by public health officials. The widespread U.S. school closings ordered when H1N1 flu first surfaced in the spring can incite societal fear. While well-intentioned, this type of public health initiative tends to focus on a worst-case scenario and can be “alarmist” and “overly restrictive,” according to a study on H1N1 panic appearing Sept. 3 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Simplistic, emotional media headlines can also stoke outsized fears, creating “irrational behavior,” said Joshua Klapow, associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health and a member of the CDC-funded South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness.

There were the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, fueling the public’s fear that terrorists would unleash deadly smallpox germs on the population.

“People were stockpiling antibiotics. It didn’t really result in a shortage, but it could have,” said Dr. Dean Blumberg, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, Davis Children’s Hospital.

Doomsday scenarios typically do not materialize, fortunately. Hysteria over the possible Y2K computer meltdown fizzled after the machines came through Jan. 1, 2000, relatively unscathed. And headlines over West Nile virus, SARS, Ebola virus and the bird flu have all faded, at least for now.

Often in a period of perceived crisis, people focus only on the benefit of certain precautionary measures, not the possible risks, Blumberg noted. The dangers of that approach were revealed in 1976 during the last H1N1 outbreak, when a federal government decision to vaccinate 43 million people against a different swine flu strain backfired.

Not only did the dreaded outbreak never materialize (illness never spread beyond 240 soldiers stationed at Fort Dix, N.J.) but some 500 Americans who did get vaccinated came down with a rare neurodegenerative condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome , which many experts believe was linked to the shot. Twenty-five of those 500 people died.

The current H1N1 outbreak remains far from a “worst-case scenario” with most illnesses still mild, even though they’re widespread.

However, according to the BMJ article, medical laboratories are already straining under the sheer number of specimens they’re being asked to test — many from patients who ordinarily wouldn’t have even considered a flu test before.

The reality: “The [H1N1] infection to date has appeared to be mostly modest and has not caused a huge number of hospitalizations,” Weinberg said.

Источник: www.empowher.com

Источник: nickyblogge.netne.net

The most significant flu pandemic occurred in 1918-1919. The global mortality rate from the 1918-1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5 to 5% of those who were infected died. With 20% or more of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent, a case-fatality ratio this high would mean that about 0.5-1% that 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed. In 1957, an Asian flu pandemic infected some 45 million Americans and killed 70,000. Eleven years later, lasting from 1968 to 1969, the Hong Kong flu pandemic afflicted 50 million Americans and caused 33,000 deaths, costing approximately $3.9 billion. In 1976, about 500 soldiers became infected with swine flu over a period of a few weeks.

The scare and panic about the bird flu and swine flu have occurred because people now know what a simple flu can lead to and are afraid of the consequences – not just to the human capital but also to the global financial health.

Homeopathy was very successful in dealing with the 1918-19 flu pandemic. Studies done in British hospitals showed that patients treated homeopathically had only a 5% death rate compared to a 45% fatality rate among those treated with drugs. Based on the symptoms, homeopathy can offer an effective cure to swine flu. Moreover, it does not have any side effects.

Gelsemium: This remedy corresponds to the commencement of the trouble, when the patient is weak, tired and aches throughout the body. It removes speedily the intense aching and muscular soreness. There are paroxysms of sneezing with excoriating discharge, and great torpor and apathy. An extensive experience with this remedy in the great Epidemic of 1918 proved its usefulness. Simple cases were speedily cured.

phytolacca: Specific when the throat is inflamed and spotty, with great hardness and tenderness of the glands.

Baptisia : Influenza with marked gastro-intestinal symptoms may need this remedy, especially when there are present putrid diarrhoea stools.

Bryonia: The trouble here is largely bronchial and going down. When a person is very grumpy and feels miserable with the flu, wanting only to lie still and be left alone, this remedy is likely to be useful. Headache, muscle aches, and cough or stomach pain may be the major symptoms. Everything feels worse from even the slightest motion. The person’s mouth usually is dry, with a thirst for long cold drinks.

Stress can undermine your immune system. The flu doesn’t kill everyone and in most cases may prove benign. Mild exercise, meditation or yoga and healthy nutritious diet can help keep your immune system in good condition and able to ward of any infections. Not every ‘infection’ becomes a full blown ‘disease’. Most infections are taken care of by your body even before you know that you were infected. Most infections affect gravely those people who are vitally deranged. So instead of panicking about the swine flu, stay calm and focus on becoming a healthy ‘you’.

Источник: rbsmedical.com

There have been 13 reported cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, since mid-2006. The reports are the first confirmed new cases since June. While the disease is rare, the FDA says the risk appears to increase as patients remain on Tysabri.

Tysabri is marketed by Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. PLC, for multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease. All the PML cases are linked to its use in multiple sclerosis.

The drug was approved in November 2004 and pulled from the market the next year due to PML reports. It was reintroduced in July 2006, and Biogen said it is used by 43,000 patients.

Источник: blog.taragana.com

So let me get this straight…usually, when a drug is developed that can cure things like, hmm….say certain types of cancers or can prevent the spread of cancers…testing goes on for years before people can even apply to try out the drug in a clinical trial.  In this case, drug companies have been rushing since spring, yup, a whole 6 months ago, to prepare a vaccine and have obviously not had the proper time to test the long term effects, but we should all run and get immunized.  I wonder how many of these drug company executives are actually getting their families immunized.

Over the summer when both my children and myself were sick with colds that just seemed to knock us out, I of course ran to the doctor to get a swine flu swab.  But, to my surprise, the doctor said they were no longer taking swabs as H1N1 had become so rampant that unless the cases were extremely severe, they were treating everyone the same as they would a regular flu.  Why does this not apply to this fall season when they expect the swine flu to become even more rampant?

Don’t our bodies need to learn to find these viruses off?  We spend so much time giving our children immunizations and antibiotics that it’s not surprising that they are constantly sick.  I can’t imagine how we are helping their bodies learn to fight by giving them all of these drugs.

My daughter since birth has had a cold almost every two weeks, chronic coughs that no puffer or cough medicine seems to alleviate and chronic ear infections.  She has had more rounds of antibiotics in her 5 years for ear infections than I have had in my entire life.  Imagine how upset I was to read this weekend in the paper that now it is no longer recommended to give children with ear infections any antibiotics in the first 48 hours because the infections pass on their own and Tylenol seems to be just as effective in helping them feel better ( http://www.thestar.com/article/695751 ). Naive me, followed doctors orders because really, what do I know as a lay person?  But now I know that I have a choice to become smarter.  No, I won’t become a doctor, but I will start taking my children to a holistic doctor in addition to their pediatrician so that I can try and figure out how to boost their immune systems and not just combat each cold as it comes my way.

So will I be immunizing my children with this newly developed vaccine?  Nope.  Am I a bad mom?  Nope.  Just trying to do the best I can with the information available to me.

President and founder of PTPA Media. I am dedicated to helping consumers choose wisely when purchasing products for their family. As a mom of two, my greatest pleasure aside from my family, is the fantastic feedback we have received from the parenting community and the media. Clearly PTPA Media is having an impact. All of our winners are Parent Tested and Parent Approved, because PARENTS KNOW BEST!

Источник: www.ptpamedia.com

Herbal medicine is powerful medicine. But yet it can be gentle. The range of “movement” that herbs can produce within the body are full spectrum. Herbs can whisper a tiny encouragement to the body’s immune system, allowing it to remember how to heal itself. And on the other end of the spectrum, purgatives, diuretics, and others can induce a raging response from the body that quickens the organs into a rapid response; quickly carrying away toxins, pushing them out through the skin, colon, liver, nose, eyes, ears, mouth… and herbs can move bones too, yes its true.

In fact, after years of studying herbs, I do believe that the wild & natural kingdom gives us the ability to manage our entire body systems.

In light of this knowledge of the powerful gifts in our herbal allies, we are having a Fire Cider Gathering Thursday October 1st. A fire cider is on the “rapid response” end of the spectrum of herbal healing, and this fire cider is used for colds and flus, and yes specifically, with H1N1 Swine Flu.

Come and join Jamie Hupfer, holistic mom, earth mama, and herbal enthusiast for a hands on Fire Cider making class. Fire cider is made with onions, garlic, cayenne and some other “energetically moving” foods that can be beneficial for the flu. These ingredients, steeped in an alkalizing vinegar, are an essential part of your home remedy collection. Come for a night of play in the kitchen ofGarden Plum Herbalswith like minded friends.

All ingredients are provided, please bring your own jar or you may purchase one from the apothecary for $1.

Источник: gardenplum.wordpress.com

Источник: www.democraticunderground.com

Would you rather be in poverty in America or in, say.. Egypt? And would you rather deal with a democratically elected government* or a dictator?

If you missed it, last Sunday’s New York Times had a front page story on how stupid the Egyptian government is.Often, the accuracy of NY Times stories are subject to questioning — but I’m living here right now. I see much of the situation directly, and from my view, the story is pretty accurate.

The Christian Copt community of Cairo used to handle much of the trash collecting in the city. The Copts took the trash, sorted the recyclables out to sell, and let their pigs eat the food refuse to fatten them up so they could later eat the pigs. Great system and everybody wins, right? Yep — until the Egyptian government freaks out over swine flu earlier this year and slaughters all of the Copts’ pigs. These swine had nothing to do with swine flu, the Egyptian government just acted in a brash and stupid manner. Since people in this part of the world are prone to holding grudges, the Copts have given the Egyptian government the finger and said, basically, that they would rather see the city (even their own community) infested with garbage than clean it up. Making matters worse, one of the sanitation companies Egypt has a contract with has gone on strike. The result: One dirty ass city. Especially since sheep aren’t the prodigious refuse eating champions like pigs.

Remove the sheep from the picture above, and the picture is a pretty accurate representation of what many parts of Cairo currently look like: piles of trsh everywhere. It’s putrid, too.

So the Egyptian government really porked the pig creating the mess. With summer turning to fall and winter just around the corner, another swine flu pandemic scare has arrived. Couple this with the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in November — thehajj— where in many Muslims from Cairo will be in close quarters with a crowd of nearly two million worshipers; in other words, a great place for swine flu to spread… When the pilgrims return to Cairo possibly carrying swine flu, they’ll have an incubator for infection waiting for them in the form of a dirty city. And Cairo is a densely packed city. Instead of making the country safer from a swine flu outbreak, snap reactions from the Egyptian government have made it more susceptible.

The garbage is only the latest example of the state’s struggling to meet the needs of its citizens, needs as basic as providing water, housing, health care and education.

The government announced last week thatschools would not be openeduntil the first week of October to give the government time to prepare for apotential swine flu outbreak,a decision that could have been made anytime over the past three months, while schools were closed for summer break, critics said.

Officials in the Ministry of Health and other government ministries said they had not made this decision — and that they had counseled against pre-emptive school closings.

It appears to have been ordered by the presidency and carried out by the governors, who also ordered that all private schools, already in class, be shut down as well.

Just another brash decision made by an executive office that doesn’t seem to know what the hell its doing. Just like the Copts’ pigs were led to a useless slaughter, part of my semester has been axed for no good reason at all.

Unfortunately, it could get worse. When the government acts in such an erratic manner which makes the situation worse, you never know if the other shoe has dropped. My whole semester could be cut if Egypt gets a sniff of swine flu cases. And let’s face it, that city I’m living outside of isn’t clean — a virus could spread easily through it. I just have to live day to day, get my studying in, and hope the Egyptian government hasn’t made me waste half a year of my life.

Speaking broadly, there are two systems for receiving services in Egypt: The government system and the do-it-yourself system. Instead of following the channels of bureaucracy, most people rely on an informal system of personal contacts and bribes to get a building permit, pass an inspection, get a driver’s license — or make a living.

“The straight and narrow path is just too bureaucratic and burdensome for the rich person, and for the poor, the formal system does not provide him with survival, it does not give him safety, security or meet his needs,” said Laila Iskandar Kamel, chairwoman of a community development organization in Cairo.

Over the past decade, at street protests in America I’ve seen signs depicting two president’s from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum as a dictator; predicting ruin for the American country if their policies continue. And through it all, my standard of living my have dropped but that standard itself was never in peril. Do you want to see how anactualdictatorship works? Come to Egypt. Never in my life have the decisions of a federal executive office effected me so directly than what’s happened to me during my stay in Cairo. And I’ve only been here a month! With three months of my tenure left, I can only hope the government doesn’t pull any more stupid stunts. But I have hardly any control over my destiny here — realizing that is scary. Feel grateful for the government you have in America.

* – Some will shout “What about the 2000 election?!” Yeah, I think those were fixed too — but let’s face it, 48-49% of the electorate voted for Bush, so comparing that to an actual dictatorship is like comparing apples and Panamas.

Источник: commentsfromleftfield.com