I cannot thank you enough for your post. The historic evidence is that overwhelming sepsis, viral OR bacterial, causes a condition called DIC which has a clear and alarming hemorrhagic presentation.
Although some reports say that Ebola (an RNA virus) has recombined with H5N1 (also an RNA virus) in patients "unlucky enough to have both", I also sincerely doubt there is much of an Ebola presence in China, or Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever, either.
I actually think 99% of the "mystery illnesses" in China at varying locations at present are the myriad symptoms of overwhelming H5N1 infection, along with whatever pathogen the Avian Flu patient also happens to be carrying at the moment.
In other words, a patient could have an asymptomatic Strep suis infection, then get Avian Flu on top of it. As you have said, doctors in 1918 mistook the flu for various othe diseases, including dengue and typhoid, WITH GOOD REASON--they didn't look like ordinary flu.
If a Chinese has a mild case of Ebola or Crimean fever (don't laugh, there is such a thing) then it is possible that a superimposed infection with Avian Flu could bring about a recombination event.
Who knows? But I suspect STRONGLY that there are far fewer diseases than it looks like at present, and that it will all likely sort out to be Avian Flu with maybe a few really dangerous genes added to some strains...
Just my opinion.
I think you nailed it.
Wow!! I think you are starting to sort this out.
A question though, because it was not clear from your comments. Is the model:
1. Widespread streptococcus suis and widespread Avian Flu that just happen to both be present in many animals. The strep suis is aysmptomatic and the symtoms are entirely due to Avian Flu. However, when the animals are tested, they test positive for the strep suis, so it is assumed that that is the causal factor.
-or-
1. Widespread streptococcus suis and widespread Avian Flu that just happen to both be present in many animals. Normally the strep suis is asymptomatic but in the case of a dual infection with Avian Flu, the immune response is suppresed by the Avian Flu and you have the symptoms from both.
Avian Flu Pandemic: Chinese Government's Answer "Make Villages Disappear!"
News Blackout in China and around the World
by Dr. Henry L. Niman
August 4, 2005
Recombinomics.com
Three Villages Razed In Qinghai After H5N1 Bird Flu Riots? By Dr. Henry L. Niman, PhD8-3-5
According to the Qinghai Bulletin Board Service (BBS), the state of emergency imposed on the farming community and its surroundings in the Northwestern Qinghai City / Town of Yushu was lifted on the night of 28th July.
When natives living further from the area made a trip to the farming community, they discovered that it had "vanished" together with 3 of its surrounding villages. Only some ruins, blocks from collapsed walls, remained. Apparently, the farms and villages had been flattened and there were signs that they had been razed.
It is believed that some inhabitants from those 3 villages were workers in the farm. Around 200 people were estimated to have inhabited or worked in those 3 villages and the farm. There whereabouts are, as yet, unknown.
The above translation of a boxun report suggest that three villages were razed in response to unrest linked to a forced bird flu quarantine in Yushu in northwestern Qinghai in China. China has imposed news blackouts and arrested reporters in the past, so verifiable news from the area is difficult to obtain.
News outside of China however, points toward a virulent strain of H5N1 linked to Qinghai Lake has killed ducks and geese in several areas of southern Siberia in Russia as well as the adjacent region in Kazakhstan. There are now reports of five suspected cases of H5N1 in Kazakhstan linked to infected geese, suggesting many similar cases would be possible in Qingahi and Xinjiang provinces in China, where there have been three outbreaks linked to migratory birds and all involved dead geese.
Although it is possible that the ability to infect humans has been recently acquired, boxun reports in May and June described human fatalities in the Qinghai Lake region. In addition, several strains of H5N1 capable of infecting humans were also described.
The news blackout in China as well as additional suspect cases in neighboring Sichuan province which may be spreading further south to Yunnan province has suggested that a raging H5N1 pandemic in China is being covered-up.
http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-he-birdflu25jul25,0,4494435.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Will we be ready?
Most Americans consider bird flu a distant threat, but U.S. health officials are preparing for a potential pandemic.
By Melissa Healy
Times Staff Writer
July 25, 2005
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Among officials and experts tracking the building force of the H5N1 virus, the anxiety is palpable. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institutes of Health office that oversees preparations for pandemic flu, says the sense of urgency is intense. "I feel it every day, and my staff feels it every day."
Fauci calls pandemic flu "the mother of all emerging infections" and warns that the world is behind in building its defenses.
There is, however, a scramble to get ready. The United Nation's World Health Organization has stepped up its monitoring of H5N1 throughout East Asia. It has brokered cooperation among countries to help stem the spread of the virus — usually by killing flocks of infected birds. And it has exhorted countries to arm themselves with vaccine and antiviral medication.
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"The stakes — in dollars, resources and human lives — are enormous," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who on June 30, presided over the fifth hearing this year that Congress has called on the subject.
Officials also face the uncertainty of not being able to predict how virulent a pandemic flu virus would be. Bird flu victims in Asia have been stricken with typical influenza symptoms at first, but their respiratory distress quickly worsens as their immune systems try to fight the virus. Of those confirmed infected with the bird flu, almost half have died.
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"The arrival of a pandemic influenza would trigger a reaction that would change the world overnight," writes Michael T. Osterholm in an article in the July issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Trade and travel across foreign and domestic borders would slow or stop, as countries and communities scramble to protect themselves from infection, writes Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "Global, regional and national economies would come to an abrupt halt," he says.
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To thwart entry of a new virus, the CDC this summer will open six quarantine stations in international airports and ports, including San Diego, Anchorage, Boston and Minneapolis. They join 12 existing stations, including quarantine facilities at Los Angeles International, San Francisco International and Seattle airports. Federal health officers staffing these quarantine facilities will have the legal power to hold foreign citizens suspected of being ill with flu for a limited time. Beyond those ports of entry, however, experts say that U.S. and state laws give officials little or no authority to take measures aimed at stopping the spread of a virus.
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