Drudge: Killer flu 'on the way'

Drudge Report ^ | Nov 2, 2002 | BBC

[who knows what evil?]

Some essential oils CAN be ingested, such as lemon or peppermint (I take both, but make sure they are labeled as 'supplements'...some are cut with materials that should NOT be consumed), but eucalyptus is certainly NOT one of them. The little girl was very lucky...keep these materials OUT OF THE REACH of children!!!

[who knows what evil?]

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.

Precisely why I take the necessary steps to help prevent the occurance of flu in the first place; strengthening the immune system, minimizing contact with sick people, maintaining an environment as hostile to germs as possible, and so forth. Don't want the flu; don't want the shot.

[FryingPan101]

Close the borders.

[CDHart]

"but i see no evidence that it's any likelier in any one year than it is in any other."

It isn't. In fact, because I work in a skilled nursing facility, they keep hounding me every year to get the flu shot. Every year I refuse. The employees who get the shot almost all end up sick with something, but (knock on wood) so far I've escaped.

I'm a great believer in Vitamin C and immune system enhancement. Also they say if you drink two or three beers a day, you won't catch a cold. :^)

Carolyn

[RobbyS]

The only shot that is useful for "The Big one" is the shot of morphine that lets you slide painlessly into etermity.

[Mark]

I'm sure Algore could invent something to bring about a cure.

[discostu]

No flu here, if I ever have had it I conquered it in a couple of days with out major trouble. I figure if I get the flu two seasons running I'll start getting the shot the third season. Until then forget it, no reason to get a shot for a disease my immune system is consistently able to conquer. Anyway, I hate needles.

[USA21]

Immigration let them all come into America

[let freedom sing]

Virologists from throughout Europe are meeting in Malta this week to discuss the best strategy for first predicting, and then handling a major outbreak.

working-vacation

[Chris_Patrick]

I was reading in a medical journal that the biggest myth about getting a flu shot, is that the person getting the shot will or can get the flu from it. The shots do not contain live viruses, and cannot cause the flu or pneumonia. Your husband just could have caught the flu at around the same time he got the shot. Some sort of freak timing or something.

Also, (I am sure as you and others are aware) there is no guarantee the shots will work, but they do save lives, especially for the elderly. Our whole family is getting them this week. I have no spleen and and can catch the flu very easy, so it is very important for me to get it.

[Semper Paratus]

On this election weekend is this the best Drudge could come up with?

[jiggyboy]

You beat me to it. It looks like it comes from the same basic template as the "killer asteroid" stories.

[Steve Eisenberg]

I've discussed this with a friend who specializes in such diseases, he tells me that the flus that we have seen over the last 10-20 years have been worse than any of the previous flus. We do not see the same massive deaths because we have better strategies for dealing with it. Better nutrituion, warmer homes to recuperate in, better medical approaches, etc.

One can be an expert in medicine without being an expert in medical history.

I'm an expert in neither, but have read at least two books on the 1918 flu and certainly can recall absolutely no claim that recent flus are worse than 1918.

I do agree that a renewed 1918-type flu would be less fatal today due to generally better medical care. Also, the 1918 flu, bad as it was, was not nearly as deadly as epidemics from earlier centuries. For example, my own Philadelphia area is famous for being hard-hit in 1918, but the 1793 yellow fever epidemic here was much worse in the proportion of population killed.

[Randjuke]

You are correct, there is Thimerasol in it. You can check the prescribing info at http://www.wyeth.com/content/ShowFile.asp?id=104 . The link to MS and autism is pretty weak - mercury used to be much more prevalent than it is now (was once used as a laxative), theoretically we should see the incidence of MS and autism dropping as a result, which is not the case.

[Dianna]

. I figure if I get the flu two seasons running I'll start getting the shot the third season.

My husband gets flu shots every year. It started when he was in the Navy, and since he'd never gotten sick, he figured he ought to stick with it. One year there was a long line so he didn't get the shot, both of us got terribly ill. It was miserable! For the first time ever, he had to stay home from work because I was too sick to take care of our two year old.

[Dec31,1999]

So their going to try to spin it off as a deadly Flu. The disinformation marches on?

[solzhenitsyn]

Thanks for the post, Raven. This article explains how flu pandemics develop:

http://www.rdi.gpo.or.th/NetZine/V3N46/flu.htm

Haven't taken the time to read it (just scanned over it quickly), but I'm certain it's the classic Scientific American article from a couple of years back about influenza. Don't know why it's posted where it is (that doesn't look like the SA site). I just searched on a couple of key words from the article and found it there.

Contrary to some opinions expressed here, the threat of a flu pandemic is very, very real, and it could kill millions. Informed and thoughtful people would take it seriously.

Incidentally, the flu strains that cause pandemics don't develop because of too many people being too close together, but because of too many people living in close proximity with animals such as poultry and swine that can have the flu.

Haven't read the article since it first came out, so my memory's a little hazy, but I think the theory is that such a flu virus is created when a host critter is infected with a human flu strain and a swine or bird flu strain simultaneously.

When a an individual flu virus invades a host cell, I believe it comes apart and releases its genetic material (8 strands of RNA, as I recall) into the cell. The RNA strands float about separately in the nucleus of the cell, using amino acids available there to create copies of themselves. Then they recombine into daughter viruses and cleave the cell wall, causing it to rupture, so they can invade other cells.

I think the theory is that if a host cell is simultaneously invaded by human flu virus and a porcine or avian virus, it's possible for strands of RNA from both viral types to recombine to create a daughter virus that's close enough to a normal human flu virus to be well-adapted to our bodies, but exotic enough that we have no antibodies that "recognize" it.<It is a truly outstanding article; I recommend it to all.

[discostu]

I believe that's called "if it ain't broke don't fix it". So long as you ain't getting the flu you should keep doing the same thing. From the annecdotal evidence I've seen the problem seems to be in the transition period. People that get the shots but stop get the flu for a couple of seasons. People that don't get the shots but start get sick (maybe flu maybe not, sick is sick) the first couple of seasons. Of course with my fear of needles I've become very good at rationalizing avoiding shots of any kind. Hope you guys avoid the flu this year

[TigersEye]

Good for you, Geezerette. Get some Lomatium dissectum extract too. If you get a truly nasty lung infection it might make all the difference. I use Osha root, Ligusticum porteri, whenever I have a sign of a viral infection in my throat or lungs. No colds, no flus for over 15 years.

[TigersEye]

bump to post #79.