Posted on 11/02/2002 5:53:50 AM PST by The Raven
Experts say governments across Europe need to plan for a virulent flu outbreak that could claim hundreds of thousands of lives.
Although the last two winters have brought only mild strains of flu to the UK, the viruses are constantly mutating and scientists say it is only a matter of time before a powerful strain emerges.
Whatever knowledge, technology and skills we develop, eventually it's the policy makers and the politicians that decide what is going to happen
Professor Albert Osterhaus, Erasmus University While it may not be as damaging as the 1918 "Spanish flu" that killed tens of millions in Europe alone, they say that the continent is not ready to cope with another pandemic.
This "superflu" is caused by an influenza virus, but its fatality rate is more reminiscent of lethal haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.
Previous versions, including the Spanish flu, had mutated into a form which the human immune system could not tackle.
It is possible that, at any time, the virus could mutate again and produce a strain that could share many of these lethal genetic characteristics.
Strategies
Virologists from throughout Europe are meeting in Malta this week to discuss the best strategy for first predicting, and then handling a major outbreak.
Albert Osterhaus, a professor of virology at Erasmus Univeristy in Rotterdam, said: "Whatever knowledge, technology and skills we develop, eventually it's the policy makers and the politicians that decide what is going to happen."
European citizens will expect everything possible to have been done at every level of public authority
Robert Coleman, European Commission Some experts have been looking at the genetic structure of the virus which caused the 1918 pandemic, as well as a serious outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997 for clues which may help doctors combat such an outbreak.
There were three flu pandemics in the last century, in 1918, 1957 and 1968.
Even though the 1957 and 1968 outbreaks were less severe than the Spanish flu, they still accounted for 40m deaths between them.
Overdue attack
Researchers suggest that an approximate 30 year cycle between pandemics means we are well overdue for another one.
Robert Coleman, the director general of health and consumer protection at the European Commission, said: "The action we take now will determine how well we combat the next major influenza threat we will face.
"European citizens will expect everything possible to have been done at every level of public authority.
"It will be several months at least after the start of the pandemic before a vaccine is available.
"Antiviral drugs could help during this period, but stockpiles would need to be in place well in advance. This is not yet the case."
Thank you for reminding us about not taking Echinacea and/or Golden Seal for an extended period of time, but only at onset of symptoms. I should have posted that. Some say that Oil of Oregano shouldn't be used every day for a long period of time either.
A search of these on the 'Net or instructions on the bottle or from a physician would probably emphasize that info.
g
I'm sure many of us remember when Grandma would fire up a saucepan of boiling water on the stove, drop in a healthy lump of Vicks, and seat us at the table with the pan and a towel over our head. Same deal. When friends visit us with hacking children (plague carryin' little so-and so's), I boil water and add a few drops of eucalyptus radiata oil to 'debug the environment'. Works like a charm. (Not to mention the scent of the mist beats the daylights out of that 'stale dirty diaper smell'.
This happened at work yesterday...some of the people who got shots in the morning wound up leaving for home at noon time because they had "gotten sick". Duh.
You are not very informed then. The BBC is on of the more credible news sources in the world. We relied heavily on them during previous US news "brown-outs" and Clinton scandals to provide news that the US papers would never provide.
You should read the Daily telegraph it is a largely conservative paper that has news about US issues that are often never found in US papers.
The Telegraph is one of the most credible papers in the world and one of the most highly posted newspapers on Freerepublic.
note: I use the word "credible" in the relative sense. I also do not read UK tabloid trash such as the Sun (the pictures are good though ;^)
I never had the flu shot, until after the the only time I had the flu. Get the flu once, and you will do anything (including the shot) that might prevent getting the flu in subsequent flu seasons.
The other morning I was listening to talk radio. A doctor Bob Martin (A Naturalist) was saying the flu vaccine was the biggest hoax on the American people there is.
He also said that a famous biologist did a study and said that if you have 5 flu shots (1 a yr for 5 yrs) you could end up with Alzheimers because the shot has mercury and aluminum in it.
I don't scare off easily so I went and got my flu shot anyway. While there I told the nurse what I heard. She said they used to have mercury in them for filler, but not anymore. She didn't respond when I asked her about the aluminum.
Would you ask your microbiologist friend if she knows what is actually in the vaccine?
Regards, Ivan
Right. Never the citizens. That would be wrong.
She's not telling the truth. The ingredient you want to ask about is called Thimerisol. It comes in quite a few vaccines and has been linked to autism in children and MS in children and adults.
I always breathed Eucalyptus Oil when I got laringitis.
I told my daughter to use it when she got laringitis but to be sure and keep it out of the reach of her children.
She thought the back of the sink was out of the reach, but her two year old daughter managed to climb up there and opened the bottle and took a good drink of it.
My daughter called the poison control and they said to have her at the hospital within 20 minutes or she would be going into convulsions and could die.
When we got to the hospital the poison control had called ahead and they were already prepared to pump her stomach. She was such a brave little girl. She just swallowed the tube right down her throat like they asked her to and then they started pumping in charcoal.
The whole emergency room reeked of Eucalyptus Oil.
We keep developing new forms of medication to combat certain diseases to the point where they mutate into something else.
I find it odd we don't spend more time combating the source of these strains instead and stopping them from spreading in the first place.
It's like the policy makers and politicians do everything backwards! Go figure! No one said they had to be smart to get elected.
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