Posted on 09/10/2006 4:09:38 PM PDT by blam
I suspect that by the time the flu becomes human-transmissible, we will have some answers.
By then those answers may not do us much good. I've seen casualty estimates for my County in the neighborhood of 300 to 700 dead depending on various factors.
Personally I think those are low, but what do I know.
L
Thanks, blam.
Anti virals attack the virus, but ,at least according to these studies, it is not the actual flu that kills you, but the body's response that produces burnout. There must be some way of testing this. One historical and undeniable fact is that the 1919 Spanish Influenza had its greates toll from the young and healthy. 12 year olds would show symptoms in the morning and die before nightfall while older folks would get sick and recover. Maybe supressing the immune system to the level of a 50 yr old would be worth a look.
Maybe. But, at 62 I don't feel safer.
Some of the birds interviewed in Alaska have bird flu, but not this variety.
I'm several years behind you, but my kid is 21 and the record of the Spanish Flu on adolescents and young adults was horrendous. If they were to treat the immune reaction in the same way that they treat an immune reaction during transplant procedures they may find a palliative. I know this doesn't allay any fears, but maybe the times call for unorthoox solutions
"It is also possible, although unproven, that some people might simply be born with receptors more amenable to the virus. That theory has been offered before by epidemiologists noting that, even in villages where all the chickens are sick, human outbreaks tend to cluster in families.
I have successfully suppressed my immune system to the level of a 50 year old, done gradually over the past 50 years. So far, so good.
Well I imagine that someone is going to pump a lot of prednisone into some sick folks and we will see if suppressing the immune system is as important as maintaining an immune system fight against the virus.
"Some of the birds interviewed in Alaska have bird flu, but not this variety."
Smart birds.
Did you ever get the feeling someone is trying to kill us? LOL IF it's not terrorists, it's Bird Flu or something else. I'm wondering if God's trying to get our attention! ;o)
bump to follow.
I had some thoughts along that line today when I first saw the headline about an earthquake in the Gulf Of Mexico today, lol.
I wondered about that too. My brother lives in the Mobile, AL area and I'm going to have to ask him if he felt it.
I live in Mobile too. I didn't feel it.
Oh, OK. That's good to know. He actually lives in Daphne, which I think is a suburb of Mobile. Do you know where that is? He and my sister in law were just out to NM for a visit, and he asked me to come visit them. I told him I would one of these days. Of course, I've been telling him that for 3 years now. lol
New Nutrient-Based Approach Shows Promise Against Deadly Bird Flu Symptoms
Clinician and Researcher Dr. Tim Guilford is investigating a promising new treatment for bird flu, which has potential for substantially reducing the mortality rate associated with H5N1 infections.
Dr. Guilford explains his strategy in layman's terms during interview with Dr. Shoshana Zimmerman of Bird Flu Beacon.
Los Altos, CA (PRWEB) June 6, 2006 --
One of the main causes of concern about H5N1 Avian Influenza (bird flu) is that approximately 1/2 of the confirmed cases have died. Experts attribute this mortality rate to an unfortunate immune response called a "cytokine storm."
This often fatal side-effect is triggered when a virus gets past the frontline defenses and the immune system over-reacts. Dr. Guilford likens this occurrence to urban warfare, in which the weapons used to take out the enemy also inflict heavy civilian casualties.
"Without instructions to back off, the immune system not only destroys the virus but the tissues around the virus, causing such acute respiratory distress (ARDS) that the immune system can readily kill the infected individual as well as the virus."
Describing the process in somewhat more clinical terms, Dr. Guilford says, “In a pandemic virus like H5N1 the body releases TNF (tumor necrosis factor) from immune and epithelial cells to help kill the virus.
However, the virus produces a protein that causes the energy producing mitochondria of the cell, located in the cell’s nucleus, to become suddenly sensitized to TNF.
This causes the mitochondria to break down and release substances that trigger rapid cellular death. While fighting a virus, excessive TNF can simultaneously attack cellular membranes and intercellular biochemical machinery.
When enough of these mechanisms are compromised in the lungs, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) occurs, and it is ARDS that can lead to death from bird flu.”
Dr. Guilford notes the need to both strengthen the body's frontline defenses and to inhibit the damaging effects of a large-scale release of cytokines.
He points out, “There is accumulating evidence indicating TNF is modulated by antioxidants in normal tissues, especially the antioxidant called reduced glutathione.
People with acute respiratory distress syndrome have been tested to be low in reduced glutathione in lung fluid.”
These findings have put Dr. Guilford onto the trail of a potentially effective treatment for the disastrous effects of H5N1 infection.
He is currently investigating the use of liposomal encapsulated reduced glutathione to maintain normal glutathione levels.
He says, “Medical research to date has previously focused primarily on stopping replication and proliferation.
However, if glutathione can be shown in clinical studies to modulate the cytokine storm, it will prove to be an effective and inexpensive approach to dealing with viral infections.
Currently, we have very few medical tools for the cytokine storm, and this approach appears promising.”
# # # Contact Information
Mead Rose
eHealth Institute, LLC
408-469-0127 Page 1/1
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And this paper goes into other Glutathione applications as wellGlutathione production/supplementation/stimulation--note item 9 Glutathione helps suppress the Tumor Necrosis Factor which triggers the cytokine storm, iirc, and production of glutathione can be stimulated by the use of turmeric (curcumin).
Descriptions of the 'Spanish Flu pretty much describe the symptoms of a Cytokine Storm in the patients who succumbed most rapidly, which explains why that particular flu killed so many healthy younger people.
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