Posted on 01/28/2014 8:59:23 AM PST by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — In an effort to help stop the spread of Southern California’s flu epidemic, one local hospital is asking all visitors to wear surgical masks while in the building.
The effects of the flu on the Southland appear to be worsening each day, with nearly 100 confirmed influenza-related deaths, and dozens more expected by the end of the week.
By this time exactly one year ago, the number of confirmed flu-related deaths was nine.
In hopes of limiting the spread of the flu, Cedars Sinai Medical Center is handing out surgical masks to all visitors, whether symptoms appear to be present or not, as part of their flu-prevention protocol.
The masks have not been an active part of the Cedars Sinai protocol since 2009.
“We’re seeing a very severe flu season,” director of epidemiology Dr. Rekha Murthy said. “It has hit hard, hit early. We are seeing what we typically haven’t seen since the H1N1 epidemic.”
According to Dr. Murthy, Cedars Sinai alone has seen 30 to 35 cases of the flu per week since December. Many of the patients being hospitalized are, surprisingly, reported to be young and middle-aged adults.
“I think what has concerned us is the severity of illness, more so than the numbers, and the types of people that this is occurring in,” Dr. Murthy said. “Otherwise-generally healthy people and younger people, that is really alarming.”
While doctors suggest that routine hygienic habits, such as washing your hands and using sanitizer are recommended steps to take in flu prevention, the best step you can take is a vaccination.
Dr. Murthy says it is still not too late to get your shot.
“It takes about two weeks for the immunity to build, and it looks like the flu is going to be around for a while.”
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There was an article linked on Drudge just yesterday that stated that flu vaccinations actually SPREAD disease.
I’ve not had a flu vaccination since I was a little boy, yet my wife got one this year and she was out of work for over a week. Unreal
Are you talking about the article where researchers were deliberately giving volunteers the flu? Those volunteers were quarantined for 9 days.
I've not seen any articles indicating flu vaccines spread disease.
Are you talking about the article where researchers were deliberately giving volunteers the flu? Those volunteers were quarantined for 9 days.
I've not seen any articles indicating flu vaccines spread disease.
This is a bad flu. Seven members of our family had it within three days of each other. We were sick as dogs for a week each. Two weeks later we still cough a bit, we take a TON of vitamin d and still caught it, but no one got bronchitis or,pneumonia — except grandma and she had the flu shot! She is elderly and was hospitalized and in intensive care a week. She is still in rehab. She very nearly died and the nurses are happily shocked she made it through. No one else had the flu shot.
My wife just completed 8 days of this hell. But now she’s just weak from not eating for 8 days. Never went to the hospital or doctor. The internet told me what I needed to know about when that might be neccessary. It went down as expected.
One of the liberals at work was giving me a bad time about not “caring” enough to take her to the doctor. I said, “Yeah, the doctor that could not correctly diagnose my “broken toe” as the Gout that it was. And ten minutes after returning from the doctor, expensive x-rays and all, I not only used Google to determine it was gout, but that black cherry juice would eliminate it. And it did.
THAT doctor? :-P
Here is what to do when you get the cold onset signal.
Get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide (3%) from your local pharmacy.
Tilt your head to one side and fill one ear canal with hydrogen peroxide using an eye dropper. Fill the ear canal completely. This assumes you do not have a ruptured ear drum!
Within one to two minutes you will notice bubbling in the ear. This indicates that the peroxide has found something that should not be there. Let the peroxide stay in the ear until it stops bubbling. If the bubbling has not stopped after five minutes, drain out the peroxide and refill the ear with fresh peroxide. When the bubbling has stopped, drain out the ear.
Repeat the procedure on the other ear.
That’s all there is to it! It is important to perform this procedure at the earliest signal of cold onset. If this procedure is done in a timely fashion, the symptoms that signaled the cold onset will subside within a few hours and you will not come down with a cold. As an added bonus, the hydrogen peroxide dissolves ear wax and will leave your ears free of wax and free of disease causing pathogens.
The article didn’t say that. It said over-the-counter flu-symptom medicines can help to spread the flu because people feel better and go back to work but are still able to infect others.
Is this a gift to California from the invaders south of the border?
Another way the flu spreads quickly is because single moms send their sick children to school because mama’s too busy at work to stay at home with them.
FWIW, our family—children and grandchildren and friends—
got together for the holidays, up to 20 or 30 of us in the house at a time, and almost everyone got the flu, except my wife and I. We had flu shots.
I heard that this year the flu shots were right on target, at least in this part of the country (Vermont).
Thanks for the good tip. Peroxide is good to have on hand.
Flu shots aren’t vaccinations against all varieties of flu, but rather to the ones picked up and prepared for several months earlier. If a different strain takes off than what is expected - as happens every few years - the flu shots for that year are useless.
I bet they are all getting sick at school.
“Yeah, the doctor that could not correctly diagnose my “broken toe” as the Gout that it was. And ten minutes after returning from the doctor, expensive x-rays and all, I not only used Google to determine it was gout, but that black cherry juice would eliminate it. And it did.”
Ha Ha, My doc told me I had an extra bone in my foot and it needed to be removed. went to the orthoped and he confirmed, scheduled surgery and then the gout went away, that was my first bout. It was close but no surgery, I would have been on cruches for 6 months. What brand of cherry juice you use?
I don’t want to come down as negative on flu shots for everyone. But we don’t choose them for ourselves and our children, though we do for our elderly parents.
But it is worth noting that the elderly family member, in good health but recently lost her husband, did have the flu shot two months prior. And she was the sickest. And nearly died. The other people who all got very sick but recovered in 5-7 days were from the ages of 2-50.
Hydrogen peroxide in the ear will do nothing for flu virus in your other regions. However, it is good as you say for cleaning the ears not more than once a month because it will dry the ear canal if done too often.
I’d say if you feel you are coming down with a Big Flu, get someone to gather clear liquids for you and stay away from society.
I’ve moved on from cherry juice. My chiropractor suggested black cherry pills instead. I then found these and haven’t looked back. I take at least one a day. Cheap and effective, and I can drink all the beer and eat all the red meat I want with no bouts at all.
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