Posted on 07/06/2006 12:57:55 AM PDT by Lurker
Not very reassuring.
Something I read last night in the August 2006 Discover Magazine:
"The Roman-era physician Galen advised his readers to avoid fruit entirely and so contributed to 1,500 years of malnutrition."
Crosslinking:
Three charged in post-Katrina hospital deaths
cnn.com ^ | 07/18/06 | CNN
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- A doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder Tuesday after Louisiana's attorney general launched an extensive investigation to uncover whether hospital staff euthanized some patients after Hurricane Katrina hit, a source close to the case told CNN.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1667723/posts
Did the article mention why Galen advised against consuming fruit?
No.
It was contained in a book review for this book: Terrors Of The Table: The Curious History Of Nutrition
I took Lurker Jr to the family physician for his school physical today. We had a nice chat after that was done. Basically he told me that both Tamiflu and Retrovir are useless against this bug.
He also told me that it's only a matter of time before it makes the 'jump'. Every single avian type flu known has made the 'jump' so there's no reason to think this one won't.
However he did say that if it does there's no guarantee it will retain its lethality as the viruses almost (key word there) always modify in order to make the jump.
He offered to write me a prescription for Tami but he said he honestly thought it would be a waste of money. Now we're supposedly going to get a supply if this thing hits, but my faith in it has now been lowered considerably to say the least.
I explained my concerns about supply lines in the event of a pandemic so he wrote me a couple of scripts for some broad spectrum antibiotics and a couple other items that may be in short supply.
But I took his advice about the Tami.
L
But WHO says that universal precautions are enough unless there is "close personal contact" in the healthcare. If push comes to shove, who knows where in the line HCW will be?
"Health care workers should expect hospitals to provide optimal protection, and someone needs to take the lead to resolve the current controversy about the need for negative-pressure rooms and N95 masks or powered air-purifying respirators versus surgical masks.
"..."someone needs to take the lead..." --good luck with that.
"What are the obligations of health care professionals to care for the sick at great risk to themselves? Historical experience on this point is varied. The Hippocratic Oath is silent on whether physicians are obliged to care for the sick. Many physicians, including Galen and Sydenham, are said to have fled patients with contagious epidemic diseases.
And I retired from nursing. My license says, "inactive status." However, I am still on a list somewhere, and I have no doubt that any warm body will be drafted. Willing or not.
"But AIDS, SARS, and smallpox have focused attention on the duty to serve, and a consensus has emerged. The American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics states "that a duty to serve overrides autonomy rights in societal emergencies, even in cases that involve personal risk to physicians".
What are they going to do about that so-called "duty to serve"? Arrest us? OVERRIDES AUTONOMY RIGHTS EVEN IN CASES THAT INVOLVE PERSONAL RISK TO PHYSICIANS???? Oh, boy, that'll be great. A doctor who won't get close to you ordering an unvaccinated nurse who has just run out of gloves in a hospital overflowing with flu patients to take care of you, or be arrested? I knew this was coming. I warned about it.
"Some states regard the obligation to treat during an emergency as a legal duty punishable by criminal sanctions for failure to act or for abandonment of patients. Some health care contracts specify that health care workers are required to provide services in emergencies.
I didn't sign any contract. But I said this would happen and got roundly flamed for it. I have family and close personal friends that I'm committed to caring for. If they cart my butt off to a hospital to work, they are going to have to arrest me first.
"The moral obligation to treat seems obvious, but it has a possibly less obvious reciprocal obligation for institutions to provide maximum available protection, including antiviral agents, vaccines, personal protective equipment, and liability protection. "
"The MORAL obligation to treat seems obvious." Oh, really. To whom?
I fully expect some to get in this discussion and demand that licensed HCWs prepare to die for them. Friends, I will MAYBE do it voluntarily, but if you threaten me with arrest, you will have to find me first.
Here's a little more information for y'all:
Some counties are canvassing to find out who owns generators, backhoes, etc...
"""Some counties are canvassing to find out who owns generators, backhoes, etc... """
EO #12919 released on June 6, 1994. The following EOs all fall under EO#12919:
10995--Federal seizure of all communications media in the US;
10997--Federal seizure of all electric power, fuels, minerals, public and private;
10998--Federal seizure of all food supplies and resources, public and private and all farms and equipment;
10999--Federal seizure of all means of transportation, including cars, trucks, or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports and water ways;
11000--Federal seizure of American people for work forces under federal supervision, including the splitting up of families if the government so desires;
11001--Federal seizure of all health, education and welfare facilities, both public and private;
11002--Empowers the Postmaster General to register every single person in the US
11003--Federal seizure of all airports and aircraft;
11004--Federal seizure of all housing and finances and authority to establish forced relocation. Authority to designate areas to be abandoned as "unsafe," establish new locations for populations, relocate communities, build new housing with public funds;
11005--Seizure of all railroads, inland waterways and storage facilities, both public and private;
11051--Provides FEMA complete authorization to put above orders into effect in times of increased international tension of economic or financial crisis (FEMA will be in control incase of "National Emergency").
These EOs are not aimed at anti-hoarding but rather at seizure or confiscation of items and facilities "to provide a state of readiness in these resource areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States."
Governors Produce State Bird Flu Guides
By ROBERT TANNER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 18, 2006; 3:49 PM
If the nation hopes to avoid the worst of a severe bird flu outbreak, states need to act now to build a network of workers, create public-private relationships and make the time to train, the nation's governors say in a new report.
The report released Tuesday by the National Governors Association aims to guide governors and other state leaders as they prepare for what could be _ in the gloomiest scenario _ a catastrophe that takes thousands upon thousands of lives, devastates government operations and shuts down businesses.
---
The 23-page guide "Preparing for a Pandemic Influenza" boils down the preparation to four areas. It says:
_ States must set priorities so that essential services continue and also encourage citizens to be as self-reliant as possible.
_ Since medical services will likely be overwhelmed and drugs may take months before they're available to everyone, state leaders must take firm steps to limit the spread of the disease by restricting travel and activities.
_ State leaders must work closely with the private sector to set up pre-existing networks so that critical needs such as food, energy and health care are provided. Businesses must be aware that as much as 40 percent of the work force could be out sick for months.
_ Thorough testing of emergency plans and responses must begin now.
States must expect to be the main coordinators of care, because the federal government will be spread too thin, Pawlenty said. "We can't look to them and them alone to be the first responder or even the main responder," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071800938.html
On the Net:
http://www.nga.org
Thanks for the input.
As you know, we've had our suspicions around here about Tamiflu too.
"I explained my concerns about supply lines in the event of a pandemic so he wrote me a couple of scripts for some broad spectrum antibiotics and a couple other items that may be in short supply."
I have Zithromax and Amoxicillan. Do you think that is sufficent?
Geez.... I don't like the sound of that at all. Martial law?
Fortunately, being in 'hurricane alley' I am guessing that 4 in 10 households around here have generators.
Like hell they're gonna come and get my 'stuff.' They better send the Army I'd rather die of a bullet to the head than to Bird Flu or starvation.
For digging mass graves, I assume.
I just thought of something. Rental equipment companies around here are loaded with digging equipment and large generators on wheels. This ought not be a problem for us small guys, huh?
I'd advise you to sit down and have a heart to heart with your doctor and then ask his advice. That's what I did.
L
Mossel Bay bird flu spreads
July 19, 2006, 16:45
The outbreak of bird flu in the Mossel Bay area has spread to a second farm which is adjacent to the farm where the virus was first detected two weeks ago. More than 3 000 ostriches had to culled and destroyed. Tests by the department of agriculture in a radius of 20km have found no further evidence of the virus.
http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,131532,00.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Not sure we are allowed to excerpt from USAToday]
7/19/2006 6:41 AM ET
At least six states plan to buy smaller quantities of antiviral drugs than the federal government has offered them, a setback for part of the government's bird flu pandemic plan.
[ Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota ]
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-07-18-flu-drugs-usat_x.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indiana: No help from feds if bird flu strikes, City Council hears
Wed, Jul. 19, 2006
Allen County’s top public health official warned the Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday about a possible flu outbreak and the importance of early preparation.
Dr. Deborah McMahan, Allen County health commissioner, told the council that the bird flu virus is expected to hit the United States this fall, although it was unlikely to be found in the Midwest at that time. She said the virus currently has a more than 50 percent mortality rate, although there have only been a few hundred human cases. She said it’s up to local governments to handle an outbreak, if one ever occurs, and that is why her department has been working for 1 1/2 years planning.
“We have been told repeatedly that we should expect no help from the federal government,” she said.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/15072436.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Bird flu, influenza and 1918: The case for mutant Avian tuberculosis"
Lawrence Broxmeyer's Avian Influenza, H5N1 And the Pandemic of 1918
WHITESTONE, NY, July 19, 2006
Dr. Andrew Noymer and Michel Garenne, UC Berkely demographers, reported in 2000 convincing statistics showing that undetected tuberculosis may have been the real killer in the 1918 flu epidemic. Aware of recent attempts to isolate the "Influenza virus" on human cadavers and their specimens, Noymer and Garenne summed that: "Frustratingly, these findings have not answered the question why the 1918 virus was so virulent, nor do they offer an explanation for the unusual age profile of deaths".
Bird flu, Lawrence Broxmeyer points out, would certainly be diagnosed in the hospital today as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Roger and others favor suspecting tuberculosis in all cases of acute respiratory failure of unknown origin.
---
Should the Pandemic of 1918 ever return doctor Lawrence Broxmeyer asked: "What are the implications of mistaking a virus such as Influenza A for what mycobacterial disease is actually causing? They would be disastrous, with useless treatment and preventative stockpiles. The obvious need for further investigation is presently imminent and pressing."
http://medamericaresearch.org/
[Condensed version]
Lawrence Broxmeyer's Avian Influenza, H5N1 And the Pandemic of 1918
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=16103
Two more suspected bird flu cases in Phichit ( Province in Northern Thailand )
PHICHIT, July 19 (TNA) - Health authorities in the lower northern province of Phichit hospitalised two young sisters earlier this week after they developed bird flu-like symptoms, provincial officials said Wednesday.
The two suspected cases are sisters aged three and four years old, according to doctors who sent the children's blood samples to a laboratory for testing. Test results were to be known on Thursday.
http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=23453
Wasn't Thailand claiming last week that their country was free of BF?
Yes, thanks blam, good catch.
OT:
Safety warning given for popular herb
Tue 18 Jul, 2:55 PM
LONDON (Reuters) - Black cohosh, a herb popular for relieving hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, may be linked with liver damage and products containing it will in future carry a warning.
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/060718/2/ljml.html
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