Posted on 06/30/2009 8:44:31 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Health experts are warning parents against holding "swine flu parties" in the hope of infecting their children with the H1N1 virus.
Talk of swine flu parties has emerged on Internet forums. The idea is that exposing a child to the H1N1 virus while it remains relatively mild will give the child immunity if the virus returns in a more virulent form later on.
The idea is an extension of chicken pox and measles parties that were once a popular way of exposing children to those diseases so that they might acquire resistance to subsequent infections.
But health officials have been quick to condemn the idea. Speaking at a conference, Dr Richard Jarvis, chairman of the British Medical Association's public health committee, said "I have heard of reports of people throwing swine flu parties. I don't think it is a good idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Nonsense! I think all liberals should hold a swine flu party.
You cant be serious. England must be stuffed full of moonbats...
Actually, I have spoken about this with two MDs who both think it is at least a reasonable idea. In fact, one of the pandemic responses being debated is the intentional induction and spreading of a less lethal pandemic virus as a means of combating a future, more deadly strain.
ping
“Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC have studied the 1918 pandemic and have found that in areas where there were more cases during the first wave of Spanish flu, there were fewer deaths during its second wave, in the fall of that year.”
This is somewhat wrong. The first wave of Spanish flu, in the spring, was very mild. What they are calling the first wave, was actually the second wave, when the flu turned deadly. This matters, because the flu had so significantly changed from the mild form to the deadly form, that many people caught *both* forms.
That is, while people might have become a little more resistant, they did not become immune. Only those who caught the second wave flu were more resistant to the third wave flu, because it hadn’t changed as much.
Another critical factor is to distinguish the mortality of the flu by itself, from the condition it can indirectly cause, Acute Respiratory Distress, called the “Cytokine Storm”. That is, the flu causes an overreaction in the immune system that is as deadly, or even more deadly, than the flu itself. People are killed by their own immune system.
Think of it as being like a severe allergic reaction, centered in the lungs, and capable of severely damaging, or even destroying them.
ARD can be caused by several things that severely irritate the lungs, including chemicals and smoke, and cause a response of about 150 chemicals in the body. Just by itself, it has a 50% mortality rate, so it is vital to prevent it in the first place.
To make matters worse, if you have ARD, you need a hospital ventilator to pump oxygen into your lungs, or your internal organs will suffer from oxygen deprivation.
With the deadly H5N1 Avian flu, people have normal, severe flu symptoms for about five days before ARD kicks in. Once they have ARD, however, physicians can tell from a chest X-ray if patients are going to live or die, based on the amount of lung damage.
A recently discovered contributing factor to ARD has been found in the semi-metal arsenic. Arsenic tends to inhibit the immune system, first making it slow to detect the influenza virus, and then to strongly overreact and cause ARD. Fortunately, in the US, the EPA has very strict standards about arsenic in drinking water, though much of the well water in the US is above this limit. Otherwise, 90% of environmental arsenic is found in wood that has been treated against termites.
Doctors are now searching for an over the counter formula of drugs that could inhibit enough of the 150 chemicals to prevent the ARD in the first place.
Statin drugs for high cholesterol were initially though to help, but that is now being disputed. Another OTC drug combination that might work is the four drug recipe of Vitamin D, Benedryl, Tagamet, and Ibuprofen. But research is ongoing.
When I was a kid the local parents had Chicken Pox parties.
One kid got Chicken Pox and next thing you know 30 kids are playing in a room. I went to about a dozen of these as a kid and never got chicken pox.
bump
Cowpox/smallpox; there is a precedent.
Maybe an AIDS party. Oh - they are already doing that.
Just wait until this fall, when the Tea Parties are picking up speed, when the CDC teams up with Homeland Security. They’ll “ban” public assembly to reduce the spread of Swine Flu — for the “public good.” And the MSM will back it up.
It WILL happen.
Very good post. Many of the hospitalizations from the “mild” form (which has not been well reported) are a result of respiratory distress. This has been especially true amongst the young and parallels well the demographics of the Spanish Flu. BTTT.
Be sure to serve tacos.
As for this H1N1 pandemic persisting into the summer, I find it worrisome. Maybe they'll finally figure out global warming is baloney.
From another swine lfu thread:
ARD, Cytokine Storm, Swine flu
UPDATE: To clarify things, what researchers are trying to determine is an over the counter (OTC) formula that would prevent Acute Respiratory Distress (ARD). Sometimes called the “Cytokine Storm”, it is an overreaction of the body’s immune system that severely damages the lungs, resulting in oxygen deprivation to the internal organs.
However, a four-drug combination that inhibits some of the major inflammatory mediators, is now being suggested as a way to stave off ARD. All four of these drugs must be included.
1) 15,000 IU of Vitamin D (though prescription anti-hypertension drugs called ACE-2 inhibitors are preferred.)
2) Histamine-1 blocker. Benedryl or the equivalent.
3) Histamine-2 blocker. Tagamet or the equivalent (normally used to block acid reflux.)
4) Ibuprofen. Advil or the equivalent, a prostaglandin blocker.
In addition, it is also recommended to maintain just the MDAR of Vitamin A. Being short of Vitamin A is associated with having an excess of a very powerful inflammatory mediator called TNF-1. But it is easy to take too much Vitamin A, which is toxic.
Care should be taken with other “health foods” that can artificially enhance the immune system, something to be avoided when there is the prospect of ARD.
One kid got Chicken Pox and next thing you know 30 kids are playing in a room. I went to about a dozen of these as a kid...
Me too, only I did get it.
The prevailing attitude was to 'get it out of the way', and to have some measure of control over the timing, better to have the kids not get it on the first day of a long planned vacation, for example.
Ping...
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