Posted on 12/24/2010 10:14:52 AM PST by Smokin' Joe
Intensive care units across Britain are almost full as the NHS faces one of the worst flu outbreaks in a decade.
Some hospitals have only one or two life-support machines left and critically ill patients are being transferred by ambulance to other trusts.... >snip< Senior doctors report that they are seeing the highest number of flu cases in more than 20 years and expect the situation to worsen over the coming weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thanks for the ping. Interesting how this, while seemingly more serious than last year’s outbreaks, is not getting much press.
Oh, wait. Obamacare has already been passed. Nevermind.
I will tell the kid’s about this. They were real good about using the hand sanitizer at school, washing their hands as soon as they got home, etc. They have been slacking on it this year.
“You think that government controlled health care might some day demand it, or deny you treatment if you refused your shot and got sick?”
Yes.
Heh, hospital beds here are always difficult to get. Nothing new about this...
Sounds good to me. Lots of fresh air and sunshine out here. A walk after a big Christmas dinner just might be the thing to do.
Merry Christmas, bgill.
Thanks for the ping, Joe.
I thought they destroyed the leftover vaccine, but I could be remembering incorrectly.
The human body produces vitamin D in sunlight. Breathing deeply might help clear the errant virus out of the lungs as well, but I’d put my chips down on the Vitamin D being the major factor in staying healthier.
If Government controlled health care mandates it, they’ll probably have the needed vaccine doses ready by the end of any epidemic.
Precisely. We've heard what turned out to be cries of "Wolf!", but we really cannot afford to ignore the threat, the past nonwithstanding.
We all know the drill: avoid public venues with sick people when possible, use hand sanitizer or wash hands frequently with soap and water, avoid touching your face, wash before eating, etc. Vitamin supplements may prove helpful as well (I believe they have in my case, but that might not work for everyone).
Awareness is as essential to prevention as the steps we take, especially as people tend to let their guard down after a period of seemingly reduced threat levels.
This was brought to my attention via FReepmail, and I figured it best to pass it on.
Probably the best vitamin supplement is Vitamin D, which is not a true vitamin, but is actually a hormone. And it needs a few explanations.
1) It works in several ways, including eroding the viral coat while it is in transit in the blood, and opening several immune system pathways that fight infections; while at the same time moderating the immune response as a natural ACE inhibitor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_inhibitor
2) While sunlight is good for “homemade” Vitamin D, and a 15 minute whole body (i.e. naked) exposure of sunlight will give you a large amount, about 30,000 IU, it will take 2-3 days to raise your blood serum levels. Therefore supplements are useful because they are both faster and more reliable than sunlight.
3) A small number of people are sensitive to as little as 3,000 IU of Vitamin D oral supplementation, so it is very good to know if you are one of them. Another small number of people do not absorb Vitamin D supplements properly, so it does not increase their blood serum levels. So both of these groups are dependent on sunlight or injected Vitamin D.
4) Some people are taking as much as 30,000 IU orally, as a “one shot”, at the first sign of a cold or flu, then moving to a daily maintenance dose of 6,000 IU for the rest of the duration of the cold or flu. As prophylaxis during cold and flu season, they take a daily dose of 1,000 to 2,000 IU.
Daily doses of from 10,000-30,000 IU can result in overdose in about two weeks, which usually takes the form of hypercalcification, but this has not been well studied.
5) A good complement to Vitamin D against upper respiratory virus diseases is ionic zinc, in the form of Cold-Eeze lozenges, specifically. This is because the virus typically reproduces in the mucous membranes of the sinuses, and zinc inhibits this reproduction.
Unfortunately, most zinc supplements are not readily uptaken by the mucous membranes. Cold-Eeze uses a proprietary form of zinc, zinc gluconate, that *is* readily uptaken. It produces a mildly unpleasant, metallic flavor after use, that is desirable, so you shouldn’t drink liquids for some time after using a lozenge.
With Vitamin D, this will give the infection a one-two punch. Yet the rule applies that the sooner these are used at the onset of the cold or flu, the better.
Whatever happened to bird flue that everyone here was so excited about?
I’ve been puking for 21 hours - can’t even keep a thimble of water down. Did have my hin1 vaccine. Maybe norovirus i might call 911 later if i still can’t drink.
It becomes a numbers game at some point where the sheer number of people infected in a less deadly strain actually result in more fatalaties than the relatively few fatalities (number wise) from a less infectious strain with a much higher lethal outcome, just because the latter affects far fewer people.
Because of the locale involved (East Asia), and the relatively rapid spread along migration pathways in bird populations, it was expected that H5N1 posed a potential threat to humans worldwide. Thankfully, that threat has not developed, even though small outbreaks of one to a few cases still occur sporadically.
Thank you for the information and advice!
Brief update: relative took me to ER (saved $950 over ambulance). Not a flu or even Norovirus. Two liters of IV saline and a trip to GI lab. I have been avoiding Upper GI for years but they had me as a captive audience under Valium. Went great, they tell me, no recollection at all under Versed and Fentanyl and Valium (But I’m sure it was lots of fun in real time). This was all covered under a state insurance program (WA State), but that program Basic Health may be going away in two months. Glad this happened now! I actually have had good experiences with Basic Health. It is not much like RomneyCare!
so what’s the diagnosis?
glad you’re home and ‘talking’ to us...
It should be added that because of its nature, H5N1 is seen as the most dangerous potential biological threat the world has ever faced. It ranks just behind limited nuclear war in its potential to kill as many as 1 billion people, perhaps more.
Unlike typical influenza, or even most other emergent lethal diseases, H5N1 has mysteriously maintained its 60% mortality in humans (with treatment). A 60% mortality is about optimal for greatest overall mortality.
Less than that, like bubonic plague, with a 40% mortality, and the disease will be more widespread, but with lower overall epidemic mortality; and greater than that, like pneumonic plague, with a mortality of 90%, or septicemic plague, with a 99% mortality, and the disease burns itself out by killing off those who would spread it, so has a lower overall epidemic mortality.
Because of its “H5” factor, unlike other influenza, nobody has even limited immunity to it. In a typical flu, this limited immunity means that much more of the virus must be taken up by a person for an infection to become established, which limits its spread. With H5N1, even a small amount will cause infection.
Also uncharacteristically, H5N1 infects a dizzying array of animal vectors. Birds, dogs, horses, cattle, cats, and fish all have extraordinarily different immune systems, yet all have been found with H5N1 infections. It also effects all the major food animals: chickens and other fowl, cows, pigs, sheep and goats (the most popular meat in the world), rabbits and freshwater fish. I do not know if it has yet been found in seafood.
So even if H5N1 does not emerge as a major human plague, it could still be extremely deadly by wiping out much of the worlds farm animals.
It was noted some time ago, by the chief epidemiologist of Vietnam, that infected herds of animals and flocks of birds, though not suffering from the disease, are used by it to promulgate new and more effective forms, as he described it, “an immense, natural selection computer.”
He found a single herd of swine, each of which had on average five different strains of the virus in competition. Once one of them became dominant, it went into “subfinals” against the dominant strains in other pigs in the herd. Eventually, the entire herd had the single most dominant virus.
And this is happening right now, in herds and flocks across Asia. All that needs to happen is between one and three viral mutations, so that the virus can easily spread from human to human. And if the virus cannot innovate this itself, it could borrow that ability from another influenza virus.
Thank you and late Merry Christmas!
I have no recollection this morning of writing that message #35 so the memory blocker was still active somewhat last night. Posting Under the Influence! I also can’t remember being driven home, putting my pets to bed, my going to bed, etc.
No real dx but the GI specialist did somehow get the spasm in the esophagus stopped. Throat just a little sore today. Happy to be able to drink fluids again!
It would be good to know what caused it, so you could avoid it in the future, if possible. I’m glad you are doing better!
Thank you. Have an excellent New Year, sir. I’ll see the gastroenterologist in a month again. It was probably partly neuropsychological as benzodiazepines calmed it down somewhat by themselves. Plus the GI said I have a hiatal hernia — very common at 50s and older. I’m just tired right now but feeling OK.
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