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influenza pandemic of 1918–19, also called Spanish influenza pandemic or Spanish flu, the most severe influenza outbreak of the 20th century and, in terms of total numbers of deaths, among the most devastating pandemics in human history. Influenza is caused by a virus that is transmitted from person to person through airborne respiratory secretions. An outbreak can occur if a new strain of influenza virus emerges against which the population has no immunity. The influenza pandemic of 1918–19 resulted from such an occurrence and affected populations throughout the world. An influenza virus called influenza type A subtype H1N1 is now...

Some of you might have jumped with elation on Tuesday after hearing the news that the FDA had de-authorized the original series of COVID shots. What the agency is really doing, however, is reloading so it can enshrine the shots into the permanent immunization schedule and mix them with an ever-growing list of respiratory viral vaccines they are rolling out over the coming months. Now is the time for Congress to step on the gas pedal in opposing these shots, not tabling the issue as if it’s over. The FDA and CDC had a problem. There was no way to...

[snip] Before motorized vehicles, horses were the backbone of the transportation industry. And so the Great Epizootic of 1872, a horse epidemic in North America, is history that deserves to be remembered. [/snip]Horse Flu: The Great Epizootic of 1872 | 16:59The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered1.14M subscribers | 3,532 views | January 23, 2023

Ireland is in the midst of a “medical workforce shortage”, according to the Irish Medical Organization’s Chairman of the Consultant Committee, Dr. Matthew Sadlier. “We are facing an international, global medical workforce shortage,” he said on RTÉ’s Drivetime. “We are competing against countries like Australia and Canada for doctors and frankly we are losing those competitions in being able to recruit doctors.” Dr. Sadlier said it is “increasingly difficult” to recruit junior doctors and there are many vacant consultant posts. He added that if the solution is to make the doctors already in the system work longer hours, that will...

The HSE’s Chief Operations Officer has warned that Ireland is dealing with a “triple wave of viruses” as new advice is issued to the public. Listing the issues at hand, Damien McCallion said that there are 600 people are in the hospital with COVID, 300 patients have the flu and 250 children are in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he described the situations as a “unique position that we have never had before”. He went on to say that having all three illnesses spiking at the same time means the healthcare system is under...

Masks are back, and, this time, they’re not just for Covid-19. A “tripledemic” of the coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., sweeping through the United States has prompted several cities and counties, including New York City and Los Angeles County, to encourage people to wear a mask in indoor public spaces once again...... There is strong evidence that masks help to reduce the transmission of several respiratory viruses. One paper published in 2020 by researchers in Hong Kong showed that people sick with either Covid-19 or the flu breathed out fewer viral particles when they were wearing...

By all accounts, the risk of another winter surge of COVID-19 in the U.S. is high. And this time coronavirus is on the prowl alongside two pals — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In some areas, hospitals are already overwhelmed. Just how severe this “tripledemic” is going to be is unclear. But what is very clear is that a pandemic-weary public isn’t taking the threat seriously enough. Shockingly, neither is government. Biden administration officials have expressed concerns for months, but there’s been no loud alarm bells, so far. That includes at a White House briefing on Tuesday where officials...

BOSTON — Even after leading the charge combating the worst pandemic in a century, vaccine researcher Kathrin Jansen doesn’t feel that she can relax. Another pandemic — this one based on an influenza virus — is inevitable, Jansen said at the annual STAT Summit on Tuesday. “Before SARS-CoV-2, we had worried about pandemic flu. And just because corona came first doesn’t mean flu is just sitting there,” Jansen, who recently retired as head of vaccine R&D at Pfizer, told STAT senior writer Helen Branswell. An influenza-based pandemic is only a matter of time, Jansen added: “The question is, does it...

Recipe for DisasterRecently both Pfizer and Moderna announced they were developing a combination injection utilizing mRNA coding for the BA4/BA5 Omicron subvariant and new mRNA coding for antigens contained in the influenza virus.[i] Because the COVID-19 component is under Emergency Use Authorization, has failed in animal studies and no human trials have been reported, that component should be off the table from the start. A recent paper from Chemaitelly and colleagues demonstrated in the Omicron era, COVID-19 boosters had unacceptably low protection against acquiring the infection and no valid study has ever demonstrated reductions in hospitalizations and deaths.[ii] To make...

As respiratory illnesses are rapidly rising among children, President Joe Biden's top medical advisor is warning of a potential triple-threat heading into winter. "This is particularly problematic because as we get into the flu season, you might have a convergence of three significant respiratory illnesses at one time in children," said Dr. Anthony Fauci. "RSV, which you just mentioned, influenza and of course there's always the concern, as we get into the winter, about a surge of a new variant of COVID-19."

Hospitals across the United States are overwhelmed with children suffering from a specific respiratory illness, according to reports. According to a report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), data showing Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) cases spiked over the last month. Typically, RSV causes children to contract the usual mild-cold symptoms, but the impact could be far worse for those with a compromised immune system or a heart defect. ... “We are treating a very high number of severely ill children,” Sarah Combs, an emergency medicine physician at Children’s National, told The Washington Post.

CNN CNN — US health officials are becoming increasingly concerned about this year’s flu season – and are already seeing signs that the virus is spreading. As the 2022-23 flu season gets underway, one high school in California is facing a “high number of absences” among students due to possible flu cases. Flu activity in the United States often starts to increase in October and usually peaks between December and February. “We can confirm that there is a high number of absences at Henry High School due to probable Influenza,” Samer Naji, a spokesperson for the San Diego Unified School...

Circulating viruses, especially influenza A(H3N2) viruses, experience fast antigenic drift that necessitates vaccine reconfiguration. Since vaccination-induced protection against homologous strains may decrease, influenza vaccines must be administered afresh yearly. In several nations, a yearly seasonal influenza vaccine is currently advised. However, repeated injections of vaccination may reduce its effectiveness. About the study In the present study, researchers conducted a thorough review and meta-analysis of trials reporting vaccine efficacy by vaccination status from the prior year. Throughout this systematic review and meta-analysis, the team adhered to PRISMA standards. For publications published between January 1, 2016, and June 13, 2022, the databases...

With flu season approaching in the US, murmurs of a potential "twindemic" brewing are once again starting to surface. "This could very well be the year," Vanderbilt infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner told NPR's Up First on Friday, "we have a surge in COVID, and simultaneously an increase in influenza." One big reason that infectious disease experts are especially worried this year is because Australia's 2022 flu season was pretty bad, and what happens during the Southern Hemisphere's winter flu surge often forshadows the US flu season well.

This will be short because it really does not need much comment. In fact, this is so absurd that I am just starting with the reference document because I am concerned no one will believe it. Here it is: Spanish Flu Gof 2.12MB ∙ PDF File – Read now Yes, that is right, Fauci and crew are now actively performing gain-of-function (GoF) work and infecting primates with the Spanish Flu. For those of you that are unaware, GoF does not have a single agreed upon definition but, as it relates here, is essentially the modification of the Spanish Flu virus...

With all the controversy about gain-of-function research and all the concerns about how dangerous it is, you might think that scientists have stopped doing that kind of work.Well, no.In the latest news, a team of scientists in Canada and the U.S. report that they have re-created the 1918 influenza virus and used it to infect macaques. Let’s be clear here: the 1918 flu vanished from the Earth, long ago. It’s simply not a threat, or it least it wasn’t, until someone figured out a way to bring it back.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Tuesday that they had started conducting a phase 1 clinical trial of universal flu vaccination on healthy adult volunteers at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.NIH is testing if this new flu vaccine is safe and if it creates an immune response.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ((NIAID) researchers created the potential vaccine known as BPL-1357. NIAID researcher Matthew J. Memoli, M.D. is in charge of the single-site experiment, which is open to 100 participants ages 18 to 55, according to the press release.“Influenza vaccines that can provide long-lasting...

This chart is real, straight from the Centers for Disease Control. And it’s spectacular:We went from 12 million flu shots in 1980 to almost 200 million in 2020.Great job! We totes got rid of the flu, right?Well, here’s flu deaths from 1959 to 2016:See the trend?No?THAT’S BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ONE. There is absolutely no relationship between the number of flu “vaccines” we give and deaths from influenza.Actually it’s worse that that, because 2017-18 - not shown on this chart - was the worst year for flu deaths in decades - probably since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.Turns out the...

Runny nose. Headache. Fatigue. Sneezing. Sore throat. Persistent cough. Hoarse voice. Chills or shivers. Fever. Dizziness. Brain fog. Muscle pains. Loss of smell. Chest pain.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which manipulated bat coronaviruses resembling COVID-19 to become deadlier to humans, appears to have carried out similar research on influenza, The National Pulse can reveal. An article posted to the Chinese-language website of the military-linked lab, which many public health and intelligence officials believed to be the source of COVID-19, details how researchers sought various avian influenza viruses (AIV) that had “zoonotic potential with human infections.” The post, titled “Scientist in WIV achieves a progress in study on reassortment of influenza viruses,” details how Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers hunted these viruses in the wild....