Posted on 09/03/2009 11:39:02 AM PDT by neverdem
TORONTO -- The lungs of people who have died from swine flu look more like those of the victims of H5N1 avian influenza than those of people who succumb to regular flu, the chief of infectious diseases pathology at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.
Study of about 70 fatal H1N1 cases so far also reveals there may be more incidences of co-infections with bacteria than was earlier thought, Dr. Sherif Zaki told The Canadian Press in an interview.
The damage to lung tissue is consistent with that inflicted by ARDS or acute respiratory distress symptom, Zaki says, referring to an often-fatal, difficult-to-treat syndrome that can have a number of causes. The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates about 30 per cent of people who develop ARDS die.
"In terms of the disease, yes, it (H1N1) is remarkably different than seasonal flu," Zaki says. "The pathology looks very similar to H5(N1)."
The dangerous avian flu virus has killed...
--snip--
Zaki says about a third of the fatal cases his team has reviewed involved co-infection with a bacterium, though the culprit varies.
Sometimes it is Staphylococcus aureus -- the drug-resistant kind, known by the nickname MRSA and antibiotic-sensitive varieties as well. Some cases have involved group A Streptococcus. And some have been co-infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae.
"Those are the main three that we found."
"It was not very clear initially," Zaki adds of the frequency with which co-infection seems to occur in these cases. "But the more we studied, the more we realized that these do happen."
He suggests pneumococcal vaccine, used in the elderly to lower the risk of pneumonia, could be a useful tool if given to younger people. The highest numbers of deaths so far have been in people in their late 30s and 40s...
(Excerpt) Read more at ctv.ca ...
Wow, dead is one thing...but damaged lungs, too?
Yeah, “badly damaged” = dead.
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If this were the Bush administration, the MSM would be screaming headlines about NOT PREPARED FOR THE FLU!!!
I reckon it will take me out, my lungs are already shot.
You might not understand. ARDS, sometimes called the “cytokine storm”, is when the immune system runs wild, and basically shreds the lungs. Death is usually due to oxygen deprivation to the internal organs.
It is not the same as the damage from the influenza virus itself, which can also kill. But ARDS is so severe that a doctor can tell from a chest X-Ray if a person is probably going to live or die. A person’s own immune system kills them.
ARDS is very complicated, however. About 150 different body chemicals are released, in a chain reaction. It kicks in at about the fifth day of showing symptoms of influenza, and young, healthy people with strong immune systems are most at risk of dying from it.
Right now, there is a desperate effort to come up with an over the counter (OTC) recipe, that would simmer down enough of these 150 chemicals to stop ARDS from happening in the first place. But medical science doesn’t know enough about how the 150 work with each other, so a lot of it is guesswork.
All over the world right now, scientists and doctors are scared half to death about the Avian flu H5N1, because at any moment it could become the deadliest plague the human species has ever known.
My trachea has been inflamed and swollen since late June...coincident with leaving Idaho and working in San Diego. I thought it might be bacterial, but 10 days of Erythromycin and another 10 days of Augmentin didn't touch it. I'm hoping it is just "bad air", but there is simply no relief from the burning feeling. The doc even tried acid reducers on the theory that it was acid reflux. No change. Puzzling and frustrating. I'm hoping not to be exposed to swine flu with my lungs thusly compromised.
My My tendency now is just to hole up in the swamp until January.
About 80% of the lung infections in the last year here in our office (Reno, NV) BEGAN with an earache....indicating Strep type infection. We started seeing this trend early so when patients said they had an earache we started suggesting high doses of an Ear HX we carry that has Streptococcuspneumoniaenosode 30C, 200C and we nipped the infections in the bud.
Stay out of crowds; take lots of Vitamin D; use Purel on your hands wherever you go.
one example:
http://diseases-viruses.suite101.com/article.cfm/nicotine_antiinflammatory_h1n1_cure
I guess that it is not as much guesswork as they thought.
Lurking’
Make like a hermit for the next several months, get lots of vitamin D and C, wash your hands regularly, get plenty of rest.....
...........you have to keep those bird pictures coming! We are counting on you.
flu and lung bookmark
Try a teaspoon or two of Apple Cider Vinegar in water for 3 days, you’ll find it’s gone.
The sample is small but this study indicates ARDS is 100 times more likely with this strain of H1N1 than the normal seasonal flu.
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